Seasons of Love
by sophiegranger57
Summary: Sequel to Gone - Set sixteen years after Gone: Following the ups and downs of Draco and Hermione Malfoy and their family. Dramione AU.
1. Christmas Morning

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**Author's Note:** hello readers! Well, here it is: this is the sequel to my story Gone. I really do hope you enjoy it. If you haven't read Gone, you can probably pick up on what's happened, but I think I would recommend reading it. This story essentially starts off right after the epilogue of Gone, which is sixteen years later from when Gone takes place.  
PLEASE READ AND REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK LOVES! 3  
also, Merry Christmas to everyone! or Happy Holidays if you celebrate something else :) I hope you're all having a nice holiday, love to you all 3

**Chapter One: Christmas Morning**

_**December 25th, 2019**_

"Mummy, Mummy, Mummy!"

Hermione Malfoy opened her groggy eyes, feeling someone bouncing practically on top of her. She caught sight of her six year old twins - Lyra Brooke and Scorpius Draco - bouncing eagerly on her bed with a huge smile upon each of their faces.

"It's Christmas!" Scorpius yelled.

Hermione heard Draco groan next to her and she smiled, sitting up and pulling the two kids into her arms, kissing each of their foreheads.

"You're right. It _is_ Christmas!" Hermione said with a grin.

"Did Santa leave us presents?" Lyra asked, her grey blue eyes sparkling as they widened.

"You bet Santa left you presents!" Draco said, finally sitting up and pulling Lyra into his arms.

There was a chorus of cheering from the twins before the door opened, revealing twelve-year-old Jeremy. He grinned and joined his family on the bed. Hermione's heart warmed at the sight of him - she loved when her house was full of children.

Her five children. The children her and Draco had always dreamed of.

Each year, all of her children climbed into their bed before going downstairs on Christmas morning. She loved cramming her family into the bed, each one sitting on each other and holding each other tight. Jeremy gave her a tight squeeze before hugging Draco.

"Merry Christmas, angel." Draco whispered, leaning over to kiss her lips.

"Merry Christmas." she said, kissing him with ease.

She would never tire of waking up next to Draco Malfoy.

Suddenly, the bedroom door opened again, revealing the tired 20 year old form of Meredith. Her blonde hair was cut short to her collarbones with a blunt fringe framing her face. She sat on the edge of the bed, smiling weakly at her family.

As always, the worry for Meredith filled up Hermione's heart. Her baby girl, once so full of love and life, had become the shell of who she had used to be. And it was all Ron Weasley's fault.

Even now, over sixteen years after the abduction, Meredith was still plagued by what had happened.

"Merry Christmas, pumpkin." Draco called out, leaning over and kissing Meredith's forehead.

"Yeah, Merry Christmas." she said, hugging her pajama clad knees on the bed.

**. . .**

Meredith tried her best to force a smile onto her lips at the sight of her family all snuggled on her parent's bed. She knew it probably looked ridiculous - her smile, that is - but it was the best she could do.

Meredith was just _not_ a happy person. In fact, she was mostly miserable. And she _hated _it. She hated having become this person. She knew her parents thought that it was just because of what had happened to her when she was a child, when in reality, that was only part of it.

Yes, she was still overcome with nightmares and horrible thoughts involving Ron Weasley and her months held in kidnapping. But... she had been dealing with that for long enough that she was often excellent at covering it up.

But, no. It was more than that. Much more than that.

But, it was Christmas and Meredith was going to try her damnedest to have a good day, if not for herself, for her parents.

"Any sight of your sister?" Hermione asked.

Meredith sighed inwardly at the hopefulness of her mother's voice. Her sixteen year old sister, Marley, had come home last night from Hogwarts in the midst of a row with her best friend, James. Meredith knew that Marley was desperately in love with James - and vice versa - but refused to admit it to anyone.

James was the son of her parents' best friends Harry and Ginny. For as long as Meredith could remember, her Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny were around. They weren't _actually_ related, obviously, so Marley being in love with James wasn't weird.

Meredith didn't know what had happened yesterday between James and Marley. When Meredith had tried to talk to her, Marley had only repeatedly muttered that James was an idiot before beginning to sob into her pillow.

"No. Want me to go wake her?" Meredith offered.

Her mother smiled sadly and Meredith wished that Marley would just get her ass out of bed and join in on the tradition of Christmas morning. She didn't care that Marley was upset, she still had to be a part of the family.

"No, no. It's okay." Hermione sighed.

"Go wake her. You know she'll sleep forever." Jeremy mumbled.

She smirked at her brother, leaning forward and ruffling Jeremy's hair. He was right.

"Alright, I'm doing it." Meredith said, getting up and heading out of the room for Marley, despite her mother's shouted protests.

She knew that her mother wanted Marley to wake up just as much as everybody else.

Meredith started down the enormously long hallway to Marley's room. Her house was outrageously big - almost as big as her Grandma Cissa's house. Sometimes, she missed her childhood cottage home - the site of her parents' wedding. But, she knew that this house made sense for a big family and was more suited to her father's taste.

Meredith knocked on Marley's door before walking inside. She found her sister still fast asleep under the covers. As she caught sight of her, she was thrown back to her sister as an infant, innocent and peaceful. When she woke up, all the innocence and peace would be gone and for that, Meredith almost didn't want to wake her.

But, she had to.

"Marley..." Meredith sighed, approaching her sister and shaking her.

Marley groaned, pulling the comforter overtop of her head immediately.

"Marley, come on. Wake up. It's Christmas." Meredith said, sitting down on the edge of her sister's bed. "Come join everyone in Mum and Dad's room."

Marley muttered something incomprehensible under the covers and Meredith just yanked them off of her. Marley sat up, crossing her pale, thin arms over her chest and narrowing her eyes.

"Do I have to?" Marley groaned.

"Yes." Meredith said, standing up and offering her hand to Marley. "It's a tradition, you know that."

"I _know_, but I really could care less." Marley said, but standing up all the same.

"Just do it for Mum, okay? She loves this." Meredith said, turning around and walking out of the room with Marley following close behind her.

"Why is everything done for Mum? You _always_ tell me to do stuff for Mum." Marley sighed.

Meredith stopped, shaking her head at her younger sister. They were almost the same height, but looked incredibly different. Marley had inherited her mother's dark brown hair and her father's ice grey eyes, instead of the opposite like Meredith had. They both were thin with incredibly pale Malfoy skin, but that was about the end in physical similarities.

"Mum's just done a lot for us, okay? We've got to do stuff for her." Meredith sighed.

Marley never would truly understand just how much gratitude Meredith held for their mother. When Meredith had been fourteen, she had finally asked her mother about the first few years of her life - before Draco had been there. Hermione had reluctantly explained the toll the War had taken on their relationship, all the while not going into specific detail, and said that she had lost touch with her father.

Draco hadn't even know about her until she had been three and a half. Hermione had raised Meredith all alone.

For that, Meredith would be forever grateful. She knew just how easily Hermione could have given her up.

She was almost certain Marley - or the other kids - didn't know about any of that. She wasn't sure if her siblings knew about her kidnapping either - Scorpius and Lyra definitely didn't. Jeremy had always been the most intuitive of the family, so she was almost sure he could put it together. Marley knew very scarce details.

Meredith went into the room first, knowing Marley would follow with her arms crossed over her tank top clad chest and scowl for a minute before lightening up just slightly.

"There she is!" Hermione called out brightly at the sight of Marley behind Meredith.

Meredith turned around just in time to see Marley's scowl change to a smile.

**. . .**

Draco hugged Marley for as long as she would let him - which wasn't that long, unfortunately. But, he let go all the same. Soon, all five kids plus Hermione and himself were on the bed, just as they were every Christmas morning.

With the way Marley was going, Draco wouldn't be surprised if this was one of the last mornings. She was becoming increasingly distant from him and Hermione, and he really didn't know what to do about it.

And then there was Meredith - she would most certainly be getting her own place soon. Once her European adventures with Teddy and Victoire were over.

"Well, shall we get downstairs for some breakfast?" Hermione suggested.

With that, all the kids clambered off of the bed and ran down out of the room - well, Meredith and Marley followed slowly behind them.

Draco chuckled as him and Hermione climbed out of bed. Hermione instantly headed for the door, but Draco caught her arm. She turned around and he captured her lips in a deep kiss, the kind that could still make her melt after all this time.

"Merry Christmas, angel." he whispered once they'd pulled away.

Hermione's cheeks were red and her face lit up with an even bigger smile. "Merry Christmas, Draco."

She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest. He held her close, breathing in the familiar smell of her hair.

"Stop making out and come downstairs before Lyra and Scorp start eating the presents!" Marley yelled from down the stairs.

Draco barked out a laugh as Hermione looked up at him, kissing him quickly before grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the room and down the stairs.

**. . .**

Marley watched and sipped her coffee as Lyra and Scorpius argued over the remaining few blueberries. She rolled her eyes and leaned forward, tipping the rest of the blueberries off of her plate onto Lyra's and helping Scorpius get the rest from the near empty dish on the table.

Satisfied with them having quieted down, Marley leaned back and took another long sip of her coffee. She looked around the table, finding her sister staring down at her plate with a near-empty expression as always. Her heart stung for her sister and her clear troubles, but she really didn't know how to reach out to her.

Jeremy was talking with Draco at the other end of the table as they ate, while Hermione was helping Lyra cut into the last piece of her waffle.

Marley loved Christmas morning, but she was too distracted with the thought of James and their row from yesterday.

He was _such_ an idiot. She hated him.

Except, of course she didn't hate him. He was her best friend. In fact, he was more than that. Marley didn't understand her feelings towards James and she almost didn't want to. The intensity of the feelings she tried desperately to ignore were more loud and present than ever and it was pissing Marley off.

She could barely understand why she had gotten so mad at him yesterday. She had merely agreed to go to Hogsmeade with Colin Finnigan after the holidays and he had started laughing at her and calling her pathetic for no bloody reason! She didn't understand it. He played it off as a joke, saying it was no big deal, when it had hurt her. She didn't even _like_ Colin like that.

"What time are Uncle Harry and Auntie Ginny and them coming 'round, Mum?" Jeremy asked, his mouth full of waffle.

"About 11, or so." Hermione answered.

Dread filled Marley's insides, as well as excitement. She knew that she couldn't ignore James forever, but he'd been such an ass yesterday, and she'd acted particularly immature. She glanced at the clock on the wall of the dining room and realized she only had an hour until they'd get there. James and the rest of his family had seen her looking ridiculous many times, but that didn't mean that she didn't want to at least _try_ to look presentable.

"I'm gonna go shower." Marley muttered, placing down her empty mug on the table and standing up.

"But Mar, _presents_." Scorpius moaned.

"The presents'll still be here when I'm done, Scorp." Marley sighed.

There was another groan from Scorpius as well as Lyra and Marley began to feel bad, even though she knew that her mother would make them hold off on opening presents until the Potters got here anyways.

"Let Marley go, love. She'll be down soon, right?" Hermione said calmly, looking up at Marley with a smile.

"Right, Mum." Marley sighed before hurrying away.

**. . .**

James Sirius Potter was banging his foot against the wall as he waited for the rest of his family to get ready for their annual Christmas visit to the Malfoy's.

He was dreading it this year, due to what had happened yesterday with Marley. Except, at the same time, he couldn't wait.

"James, would you _please_ stop kicking the wall?" his Mum shouted out.

He complied, sighing and turned around to see Ginny shrinking all of their presents and sending them into a bag to take with them to the Malfoy's house.

"Please try not to antagonize Marley today, alright?" his father called out, appearing in their living room with his eight year old sister, Lily Luna, at his side.

"I didn't _antagonize_ her. It was just a misunderstanding." James sighed.

To be truthful, he wasn't sure why he had acted like he did with Marley yesterday. He was _never_ sure why he acted like he did with Marley. As the two had grown up, he had just acted more and more stupid and careless with her. He wished that he wouldn't but she just... irritated him to no end. Yet, irritated him in the best way possible. He couldn't imagine this day - hell, _life_ - without her.

"Whatever it was, let's just try to have a peaceful day." Harry sighed.

"Yeah, yeah." James groaned. "Tell Teddy not to snog Victoire in front of everyone then. I've seen enough of that to last a lifetime."

Teddy then appeared in the room, his eyes narrowed at his brother. James knew that Teddy wasn't related to him in blood, but he was still more than family and probably the person that James was closest to apart from Marley.

Teddy said nothing to James, just stood beside him staring at the fireplace to wait for the rest of their family.

"Albus, come on!" Ginny called out.

Albus Severus finally came into the room, and then, not long after, they took turns Flooing to the Malfoy's. As they all greeted one another, James was painfully aware of the fact that Marley wasn't there. He knew that she was probably just taking a ridiculous amount of time to get ready - she always did - but he was still worried that she was so mad at him that she wouldn't come downstairs and join them.

"Try not to be a prick today, yeah?" Meredith whispered in his ear as they hugged.

"I wasn't -" he started.

Meredith raised her eyes at him and he sighed, nodding in agreement. He towered over Meredith now, but she still always took care of him the same way she had when he was younger. Meredith always looked out for him, just as Teddy did.

And then, he saw Marley.

She was walking down the stairs, wearing a black dress with black tights, a thick brown belt cinched around her waist that showed off her thin curves. He felt himself take a deep breath at the sight of her, even though Marley looking good was nothing new.

Marley could be wearing pajamas and have bed head and he'd still think she was beautiful. In fact, he _did_.

She greeted everyone around him - and he noticed. She wasn't looking at him. She was looking everywhere _but_ him, and he couldn't look anywhere _but_ her.

When she finally reached him, he didn't know what to do. He saw in her eyes that she was still mad. She crossed her arms tight over her chest and it became clear that she was waiting for him to say something.

He was suddenly very glad that everyone else in the room was absorbed with laying out presents and talking.

"Marley, I..." he started.

She raised her eyebrows at him and pursed her lips, just as she had so many times over the years. He felt his heart stammer and he decided to just take a chance. He was rubbish at apologizing - especially to Marley. He got so tongue tied around her sometimes, it was embarrassing.

He pulled her into his arms, hugging her close.

"I'm sorry, Marley. I was being an ass." he sighed, whispering into her ear.

He felt her arms uncross and hug him back as she rested her head against his chest. He closed his eyes, breathing in the sweet vanilla and lavender smell of her hair before letting her go.

When they pulled away, she was smiling at him and he felt a weight lift off of his chest.

Life was always better when Marley was smiling.

**Author's Note:** PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! 3 I really wanna know what you guys think!


	2. Moon, Stars and Shoes

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**Author's Note:** I already have followers for this story! thank you all. 3 PLEASE READ AND REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

**Chapter Two: Moon, Stars and Shoes**

Meredith had watched the interaction between Marley and James with a close eye as she had spoken with Teddy. As Marley had smiled, it had occurred to Meredith that James was the only person in the world who had ever made her sister smile like that.

It made her... _jealous_.

_She_ wanted someone to make her smile like that. She wanted someone to bicker over silly things with.

"Have they made up yet?" Teddy asked, pulling her away from her thoughts.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, they have. Hugged and everything." Meredith said.

Teddy let out a sigh of relief. "Good. Or else it was going to be one painful day."

"Tell me about it." Meredith said with a short, forced laugh.

"How're you doing, Mer?" Teddy asked, his voice dropping an octave quieter.

She shrugged at him, hating that Teddy could read her like a book. He narrowed his eyes at her until she sighed and shrugged again.

"Have you thought about talking to your parents about -" Teddy started.

"No. And I'm not going to." Meredith said harshly.

Teddy immediately backed off and raised his hands. "Sorry, sorry. Just a suggestion."

"A bad one." Meredith muttered under her breath.

She could never tell her parents about what had happened. She would never. Just the thought of it made her want to hide.

Before either one of them could say anything else, the fireplace erupted into flames and Victoire stepped through, her blonde hair shimmering in flames. She had inherited incredibly after her mother. Teddy immediately went to her, kissing her lips before hugging her close. Following Victoire were Bill and Fleur, who moved past their daughter to greet the family.

Meredith sighed, looking around at everyone as they made happy conversation with each other.

She felt almost more alone than ever.

**. . .**

Marley was insanely aware of the fact that James' hand was resting on the small of her back. She was very focused on her breathing, making sure that it remained as normal as she could make it.

She could tell just by this simple action how sorry James was for yesterday.

Everyone had opened their presents, taking up the majority of the day. Now, it was just before dinner and the rest of the guests were in the midst of arriving. Christmas dinner was almost always at Marley's house, due to the sheer number of guests. But, Hermione and Draco almost never made it.

It was usually her Grandma Molly with the help of Grandma Cissa and Fleur, just as it was this year. The three of them made such an incredible cooking team. Marley always loved their Christmas dinners.

"Wanna..." James whispered in her ear.

Marley looked at him with widened eyes and a smile, knowing exactly what he meant.

"James, we _can't_. It's almost time for dinner." she whispered back.

"Come on. We'll be back before they notice we're gone."

Marley took a look at James and felt herself cave as she took in his green eyes. He raised his eyebrows and offered out his hand. She groaned, taking it and letting him pull her through the kitchen fast enough for Fleur and the grandmothers not to say anything.

Soon, they were outside in the snow and cold of the night.

"J-James, it's _freezing_." she shivered.

He just laughed, running through the snow and to the broom shed in her backyard. He appeared a moment later with one of Draco's brooms - the one she knew that James liked the most. He ran back over to her and mounted the broom.

"That's okay. Just hold on tight, okay?" he whispered.

She grinned and shook her head. "No way. My turn in front."

He moved down on the broom, making room for her to fly in front and steer. She felt his arms hold her around the waist tightly and she shivered at the soft touch.

"Guess I better hold on tight, then." he whispered.

She didn't say anything, merely taking off. It was their thing - flying when the sky was dark and the stars were shining. It was one of the things that made Marley feel safest in the world - when James was with her. Meredith absolutely hated brooms, but Marley loved them. She figured it was probably from growing up attached at the hip with James.

When they touched down later, Marley instantly wanted to keep going. She knew that they were now probably late for dinner, but she didn't care. She always wanted to keep flying with James.

"Ready?" James called out after putting the broom back in the shed.

Marley pouted, shaking her head. James just smiled as he reached her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close.

"Come on, Malfoy." he sighed, pulling her back inside the house.

As they stood inside, Marley smoothed down her dress, pausing outside the entrance to the dining room.

"Wait." she whispered.

James stopped, turning around to look at her with expectant eyes. She wasn't sure exactly why she had stopped him. Maybe it was just for a few more moments alone with him. Before she could say anything, James stepped closer.

"Wait, hold that thought. I've got your Christmas present here." James said.

She raised her eyebrows. He had already given her a present - a book that she had mentioned a couple months ago.

"You already -" she started,

"But I've got you this as well. I just didn't have anything to put it in." he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out something clenched in his fist. "Here." he whispered, placing it into her hand.

When he pulled his hand away, Marley gasped. It was a silver charm bracelet with three single charms: a broom, a star and a shoe.

"Broom and star are obvious. And the shoe... it's for the amount of times you've fucking stomped on my foot when we've been fighting." James explained with a laugh.

Marley's face flamed as she looked up from the bracelet at him. It was incredibly sweet. She could hardly believe it. James took the bracelet from her and fastened it on her wrist before she could say anything.

"Merry Christmas, Marley." he whispered, bending down and kissing her cheek.

He walked into the room before she could even say thank you.

**. . .**

"Relax, Hermione. You know they're just goofing off somewhere." Draco whispered to Hermione from their spots at the table.

"I know, I know." Hermione groaned.

She knew that, but it didn't stop Hermione from being worried about Marley and James. She was about to say something to Ginny when James walked in the room with Marley following close behind.

"There you two are!" Ginny chastised.

Hermione watched as her daughter blushed deeply. She caught sight of something silver shimmering on her wrist, but didn't mention it. She'd ask her daughter later

"See. I told you." Draco said.

"Yeah, yeah. Sue me for worrying." Hermione sighed.

Hermione was always uneasy when she didn't know where her children were - especially so due to what had happened with Meredith. Draco reached for her hand under her table, squeezing it tightly She felt his fingers graze against the bands of her wedding and engagement rings. She turned to him and kissed his cheek quickly before turning back to her meal.

She looked around at her family and friends, smiling at the sight. All of the Potters were still there, as well as Bill, Fleur and Victoire; Molly and Arthur, George, Angelina and their two kids Fred and Roxanne; Blaise, Pansy and Corinna; and finally, Narcissa.

Molly and Arthur hadn't been there in the morning, as they had spent it with Ron - who was exiled from all family events. They never spoke of him when they could help it, and when they did, it was never to Hermione, only Draco.

She caught sight of Meredith talking quietly with Teddy and Victoire at the other end of the table as Meredith pushed her food around. She had a sombre expression on her face - as per usual.

"Hermione." a voice called.

She looked at her other side, finding Harry staring at her with concerned eyes.

"Yeah?" she said to her friend.

"Stop worrying. She's okay." Harry muttered under his breath.

"Harry, she's _not_. Look at her." Hermione whispered. "She looks even worse than she did the last time and she _won't_ talk to me about it. She never does."

"What, you think it's something more than -?" Harry started.

"Don't you?" she said before he could finish the sentence.

Harry observed his goddaughter for a minute and sighed, nodding slowly. Hermione knew that it had to be more than what had happened in her childhood. After having observed Meredith all day, she knew it was something more. She was barely eating and was often lost in her thoughts. All her smiles and laughter seemed faked.

It had been like this the last few times Meredith had checked in with them from her European trip.

**. . .**

"She's staying around for two weeks, okay? She'll talk before she goes. Don't worry." Draco added, having listened in on Harry's conversation with his wife.

He squeezed Hermione's hand again, having agreed with everything she had said. It had to be something more. He knew his girl, and Hermione was usually right when it came to her intuitions.

The dinner went by without incident as it usually did until it was obvious that the kids were itching to leave the table. He watched his children leave in their little groups: Lyra and Scorpius with Lily and Fred Weasley the Second; Jeremy with Albus and Corinna; Marley linking arms with Roxanne Weasley and James following behind them; and Meredith walking out with Teddy and Victoire.

Now, it was just the adults at the table. Draco got up and made his way over to his mother. She was getting older, but Draco was glad to see her still as healthy as she could be. She still was slow compared to Molly Weasley - who was her elder by five years - but she was still strong.

"Thank you for dinner, Mother." Draco said, kissing his mother on the cheek.

"You're welcome, Draco." she said with a smile. "Is Meredith alright?"

"You noticed, too?" Draco sighed, taking the vacant seat next to her.

"Of course I did. I know my granddaughter as well as the next person." Narcissa said.

Draco nodded. His mother was right. Draco loved how involved with his children Narcissa was and had been from the very beginning. She loved Meredith and the rest fiercely. When he was a teenager, he never would have guessed how loving and caring of a grandmother she would grow to be.

"Think you could try and talk to her?" Draco asked. "She always talks to you."

It was true. Draco's mother was one of the few people that Meredith tended to be completely open with. Perhaps it was because Narcissa always called everyone out on their bullshit, all the while remaining kind.

"Of course. I won't tonight, but I'll pop by in a few days. Give her some time to adjust to being home." Narcissa said.

"Thanks, Mum." Draco said, kissing his mother's cheek again before standing up and making his way back over to Hermione.

**. . .**

James liked Roxanne, he really did. But he just wanted her to leave him and Marley the hell alone.

Roxanne was his cousin and Marley's closest girlfriend, so of course he loved her. But he really needed to be alone with Marley. Upon giving her the bracelet, he had had a sudden burst of confidence in his behaviour towards her - and now it was fading fast.

He wanted to kiss Marley. He wanted to kiss her more than _anything. _

Then again, he always wanted to kiss Marley. But he figured that now could be a good time. He could kiss her and tell her about his feelings and then... see where things go. If it was a bad response, he could blame it on the spirit of Christmas and the Firewhiskey he had smuggled into his drink.

If it was a good response...

Then he would have everything he had ever wanted.

"Roxanne, could you give me and James a minute? I've got to talk to him about something." Marley said, surprising James.

Roxanne eyed them both curiously before raising her eyebrows suggestively. James watched as Marley elbowed her out of the room, leaving the two of them alone.

"What is it?" James asked, placing his glass down on the table in front of him.

Marley sat down next to him and smiled. He was suddenly increasingly nervous. Where the hell had his confidence gone?

"I did something last month." she said. "I've been meaning to show you, but..."

"What?" he asked, suddenly amused.

Marley took a deep breath and stood up, surprising him by lifting up her dress. Her legs were covered in tights, so there wasn't anything to see until she lifted it up past her stomach, revealing the pale cream of her skin.

James fought to keep his heartbeat and everything else regular.

On the side of her hip was a tattoo of a lily. James raised his eyebrows at her and the sight of it. Hardly anyone in the Wizarding world had tattoos, but he knew that Marley found them fascinating.

And it was a lily.

Lily was Meredith's middle name - a representation of James' grandmother. it as also Marley's favourite flower, which was why he knew Marley had gotten it.

"Wow. It's... it's nice, Marley." he said, struggling to find his voice. "It looks good."

"Really?" she said, smoothing her dress back down and grinning. "Mum and Dad'll kill me if they find out, but... I just couldn't resist."

"When did you get that?" he asked as she sat back down next to him.

"A month or so ago. Mum took me shopping one weekend with Aunt Gin, Lily and Lyra and I snuck off into Muggle London and got it done." Marley explained with a shrug.

"Bold of you." James observed.

"Yeah, guess so. I just really wanted it and I _knew_ that Mum'd say no. Dad would probably have a heart attack if I even _asked_ and I didn't want to wait for Meredith to get home to take me." Marley continued.

She babbled on, as she usually did when she was in a good mood and James was suddenly wondering if he would ruin everything by kissing her.

"What?" Marley said suddenly, her voice much softer.

James realized that she had stopped speaking and was staring at him intently.

"What?" he repeated.

"You're just staring at me." she said with a soft smile.

"No, I'm not."

"You are."

"No."

"James."

"Marley."

And then they were laughing at each other as they always did. It was as if yesterday's fight had never happened. It always went that way with the two of them. They would fight as though it was the end of the world, and then the next day, everything would be the same as it was.

He took a deep breath and slid closer to her, watching her eyes widen slightly as he did so.

"Marley, I..." he started.

She said nothing as he paused. He was suddenly so distracted by how close she was that he lost the use of his words. He was struck by the intensity of her icy grey eyes, the slight blush on her pale cheeks and the pinkness of her lips.

God, all he wanted was to kiss her.

He leaned forward, daring to do something he had wanted to do since he knew what feelings were.

When suddenly - everyone decided to come back into the living room.

The two sprung apart, James actually getting off of the couch as the voices of the adults came into the room. He ran his hands through his hair, trying desperately to forget what had almost happened.


	3. Like Father, Like Son

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter Three: Like Father, Like Son**

Marley hardly slept that night. All she could think of was James.

She opened her eyes to look at her bedside table clock.

4:03, it read.

She groaned, reaching into her bedside drawer to pull out her mobile. She and James were the only kids around who had one, and even then, they scarcely used it. Hermione and Harry both had one to keep in touch, as it was quicker than owling.

She took a deep breath, getting ready to send one to James when she realized that she already had one from him, sent not ten minutes earlier.

_you awake?_

She smiled, pressing his number on the phone and holding it up to her ear. He picked up on the first ring.

"Hey M&M." he whispered.

She blushed in annoyance at the old nickname. M&M for Marley Marie Malfoy. He didn't use it as much anymore, but every once and a while it was still brought up.

"Hi." she whispered back.

"Can't sleep either?" he asked.

"No."

There was a comfortable quiet pause in the conversation, where the only sound was their breathing.

"Do you think you could..." she started off slowly.

James chuckled softly. "Give me one minute."

They hung up and Marley sat up in her bed, waiting. She stared across her spacious room at the fireplace, praying that her parents were sound asleep and wouldn't hear it.

A moment later and the familiar green flames erupted, revealing James in plaid pajama bottoms and a light blue t-shirt. She smiled at him immediately and moved over to one side of the bed to make room for him.

This was something they had been doing since they had learned how to Floo alone. They hadn't done it in a while, but it was still as comforting as it always was.

"Hey." he whispered, crossing the room and climbing into the empty side of her bed.

She turned on her side to look at him. He was already staring at her, a small smile on his lips.

"Think we can sleep now?" he whispered.

"Probably."

James reached under the blankets and grabbed her hand, causing her to take a deep breath. Suddenly, he pulled her to her, causing her head to rest upon his chest as he locked his arms around her waist comfortably.

Marley was very aware that they had never slept like this before.

"Is this okay?" he whispered.

"Yeah." she answered, her voice hardly audible.

"If it's not, just say."

"James, it's you. Of course it's okay."

His arms tightened around her protectively and she let herself close her eyes, feeling the most comfortable she ever had in her entire life.

**. . .**

Hermione awoke to a deep kiss on her lips. She didn't even have to open her eyes to know it was Draco. She responded instantly to him, letting her hands get lost up in his hair as he pulled her close.

"Morning to you, too." she replied breathlessly as he pulled away.

"Think we have enough time before the kids get up?" Draco whispered, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

Hermione glanced at the clock, knowing they'd be pressed for time. With all the kids home, one was bound to be up soon.

"Shower?" she whispered.

Draco was suddenly out of the bed and scooping her up in his arms. She let out a squeal of surprise and covered her mouth as if she could take back the noise.

"You are crazy, Draco Malfoy." she whispered.

Once they were safely inside their attached bathroom, Draco let her down, pressing her up against the door and pulling off her dressing gown slowly.

She loved that her husband could make her feel like a teenager, even at the age of thirty-nine.

Soon, they were in the shower, kissing passionately as Draco pressed her up against the wall.

"God, I love you." he whispered.

"I love you, too."

**. . .**

Meredith awoke with a scream and clasped her hand to her chest.

Another nightmare.

Just like every night.

She grabbed her wand off of her bedside table and summoned her favourite photo album - the one Teddy had put together for her last year when she had really needed a reason to smile.

The first page was the first family photo she knew of. It had been at her mother's birthday party - the day she had learned that Draco was her father. The night Ron had kidnapped her.

What she liked about the picture was that she was in Slytherin colours. According to her mother, the silver and green of Slytherin had been her favourite from the moment she was born.

Luckily enough, she had taken after her father and ended up in Slytherin House.

The next page had a photo from her fourth birthday party, as well as a photo of her parents at their wedding. Hermione's hand was resting upon her stomach - a small bump at the time. They hadn't known whether it was a boy or girl yet. It was always weird for her to think of her life before any of her siblings.

Next was a photo of Meredith between a baby Marley and a baby James. The next few photos consisted of Meredith, Teddy and Victoire all the way up to Meredith's first day of Hogwarts.

She closed the book there. She didn't want to see anyone from Hogwarts. Not after what had happened in her last year there. Not after him.

Him.

She closed her eyes, groaning loudly as she laid back on her bed. She didn't want to start her day off thinking of him and what had happened, but she had to anyways.

She always did.

She slowly got up and shrugged on her silver, silk robe before quietly leaving her room. She had no idea what time it was. She just knew she couldn't sleep anymore. Judging from the sun creeping in the windows, she knew it had to be morning.

When she finally reached her kitchen to make coffee, she stopped in surprise, holding a hand up to her chest in surprise for the second time that morning.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she gasped.

**. . .**

"Marley... hey, Marley." James whispered.

He looked at her, taking in her peaceful exterior. She was so astoundingly beautiful that James had to stop himself from kissing her right there and then.

"Come on, Marley. Wake up." he whispered.

She groaned slightly before opening her eyes. "Stay."

He smirked at her. She was always especially adorable when sleeping. "I can't, Marley. I gotta get home. Maybe I'll come by later though, okay?"

"Stay." she whispered again.

He sighed, maneuvering himself out from under her carefully so she wasn't too disturbed. He wanted to stay more than anything, but he knew that he had to get home before any of his family noticed he was gone.

"M&M, I've got to go." he whispered.

She finally sat up and looked at him, a pout on her lips that James found absolutely adorable.

"Come on, Marley. Don't do that." he sighed.

Her pout left until she just looked tired. James sighed, leaning forward and kissing her forehead. When he pulled away, Marley's face was flushed. He just laughed before heading over to her fireplace, ready to Floo home.

When he arrived back in his living room, he was staring into the angry eyes of his mother.

"Shit." he muttered.

Ginny had her arms crossed tight over her chest and her eyes narrowed. "James Sirius Potter! You do _not_ leave the house in the middle of the night, for the love of Merlin!"

"Mum, I'm sorry, I -"

"I don't _care_ if you're sorry! I just... if you're going to sneak out at least leave a _note_ or something!" she continued.

"Relax, Mum. I was just at Marley's, okay?" he sighed.

"And did Aunt Hermione and Uncle Draco know you were there?" Ginny yelled.

"No, but -"

"Just what I thought. God, James. What are we going to _do_ with you?"

Just then, James was never so glad for his father's appearance in the room. It almost amused him just how much he looked like his dad. He didn't look a thing like his mother, whereas Albus and Lily both had the same shape of their face as her.

"Ah, what's he done now?" Harry asked, walking over to join them.

"He's snuck out of the house! Do you do this at school? Because I swear I will write to McGonagall and -" Ginny continued.

"Oh, so you've snuck out?" Harry asked.

James just nodded at his father who didn't look angry in the slightest. "And I didn't leave a note, so Mum's yelling."

"He can't just _do_ that, Harry!" Ginny screamed.

"Ginny, you're channelling your mother right now." Harry sighed.

That quieted her down instantly and James knew that his dad was in for it now. It was bad when his mother went on in a silent rage.

"_You_ deal with _your_ son since you two have _so_ much in common." Ginny snapped, turning around and heading up the stairs.

When she was gone, Harry gestured for James to sit down on their couch.

"What does she mean we've got a lot in common?" James asked, trying to veer the conversation away from the inevitable subject of Marley.

"Well - er - your mother just means that I had a... I had a habit of sneaking out of bed at school." Harry sighed causing James's face to light up. "But, that doesn't mean that you've got the right to do it! And don't tell your mother I told you that. She'll hex me, and trust me, she's good at that."

"Right, well. If _you_ used to sneak out of bed all the time and _I_ snuck out of bed this one time, then there's really no need to discuss it, yeah?" James tried.

"Not so fast. Where did you go?" Harry said.

James sighed, running a hand through his dark hair. "Marley's."

"I see. Why?"

"She... she couldn't sleep and neither could I. And... well, we always sleep better around each other. I don't know why. I think we're just more relaxed."

Harry just smirked at him and James was instantly more confused by his dad's behaviour.

"Okay, so... you're not angry?" James asked.

"No, and your mother isn't either. She was just worried about you. Now, now there's nothing _going on_ with you and Marley, is there?"

James groaned as he realized his father was asking if he had just come back from having sex with Marley.

"_Dad_... no." James groaned.

"Okay, good. But, you like her." Harry said.

"How did you -"

"Please, James. I'm your father. It's been obvious since the day you two were born."

James was silent, just staring down at his knee. He really didn't want to discuss his feelings for Marley with his father. Not now. He barely knew how to discuss them with himself.

"Next time, your mum is right. Leave a note." Harry said, getting up and ruffling his son's hair.

**. . .**

"Yes, okay. Well, I understand that but that still doesn't mean that you can _have_ any, okay?" Draco sighed, trying to reason with his youngest son.

Scorpius just couldn't understand why he wasn't allowed to have cookies for breakfast. It was an ongoing battle and it had been for years.

Now, it was an even bigger problem since both Lyra and Scorpius's magic had become more present than ever and Scorpius almost always had a box of cookies zoom towards him.

"But _Daddy_..." Scorpius whined.

"Scorp, come on. Just accept the fact, yeah? Let us have _one_ day without this argument." Marley groaned from her spot on the living room couch.

Draco hadn't even seen his second eldest daughter when he and the twins had entered the living room. She was curled up under a blanket, the book that James had given her yesterday on her lap, as well as a mug of coffee in her hands. It never failed to amaze him that his daughter was already old enough to drink _coffee_.

"Hi, love. Sleep well?" Draco asked, sitting himself down on the couch as the twins ran past them into the kitchen.

Marley gave a non-committal shrug before turning her attention back to her book. Draco sighed. He hated how hard it was for him to engage their daughter. She used to hang onto his every word. It pained him that his children were growing up so fast.

"Where's Mum?" Marley asked.

"Upstairs with Jer, I think. He was asking her a schoolwork question." Draco explained.

"Schoolwork? God, does that kid _ever_ rest?" Marley groaned, finally shutting her book.

"Your mother used to be the exact same way, you know." Draco offered.

"Trust me, I know. Her name is all over all the bloody academic awards." Marley said, taking a sip of her coffee.

Draco was about to correct his daughter's language - but then thought against it. She _was_ growing up, after all. And even if he told her not to swear, it wouldn't stop her.

"And Uncle Harry's on all the Quidditch trophies." Marley continued.

Draco tried not to let his fury at that one show. It still burned him to this day that he had never managed to defeat Gryffindor and Harry - despite how close friends they were now.

"Where's your name, Dad?" Marley joked.

Draco opened his mouth to answer and then shut it. He knew Marley was kidding around, it was what she did. Draco should be happy that he was at least getting a chance to talk to her.

"Daddy! Come here!" Lyra yelled from the other room.

"_No_! Stay there a minute." Meredith said, making her presence known.

Instantly, Draco was curious. Why would Meredith care if he went into the kitchen or not?

"Meredith's got a friend over!" Scorpius yelled.

"Scorp! For the love of God." Meredith groaned.

Draco felt Marley coming close behind him as they went to the kitchen. He caught sight of Meredith first, taking in her uncomfortable and closed off expression. Her thin arms were crossed tight over her chest as she stared at the ground.

It was then that he caught sight of Meredith's "friend". He had never seen the man before, but yet... he seemed somewhat familiar.

"Hi there. You are...?" Draco said, offering out his hand.

He appeared to be around Meredith's age, but he wasn't entirely sure. He could have been older. He moved his dark brown hair away from his eyes before accepting Draco's hand.

"Leo. Leo Greengrass." he said.

Draco's eyebrows raised. "Hang on. Greengrass?"

"Yeah. I think you knew my mum, Daphne?" Leo said.

"Yeah. I... I haven't seen her since school, actually. I know her sister - er - your Aunt - better." Draco explained.

"Right, well. I live with Aunt Astoria, actually. Have done since I was about four. Mum passed then." Leo explained.

Draco hardly knew how to process any of this information. He hadn't seen or heard of Astoria or Daphne Greengrass since before Hermione had reentered his life. He definitely hadn't seen Astoria since they had broken up all those years ago.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Leo." Draco said awkwardly.

"Great, now that we've all been introduced, how about... you leave? Yeah? Great." Meredith said, turning and pushing Leo in the direction of the living room.

Draco narrowed his eyes at his daughter's unexpected behaviour and opened his mouth to say something.

"Dad. Just leave it, okay?" Marley muttered, placing a hand on Draco's arm.

He watched Leo attempt and put a hand on Meredith's arm before they left the room, but she noticeably flinched away.

Draco couldn't help but wonder just who the hell Leo Greengrass was to his eldest daughter.

**Author's Note: **Please read and review! thank you for all those who have reviewed already! 33 love to everyone!


	4. Miserable Mornings

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter Four: Miserable Mornings**

Meredith could hardly believe it.

First, Leo had shown up. And then she hadn't been able to get him out of the house before people had come into the kitchen - mainly her parents.

"Mer, come on. Don't be like this, okay?" Leo sighed.

"Stop it, Leo." she muttered as he attempted - again - to place a comforting hand on her arm.

She couldn't believe that he was here. She just couldn't _believe_ it.

She had simply been walking into the kitchen of her own bloody house, thinking about him with sadness as she always did, and there he was.

Just _sitting _there, as if he did it every morning.

"Meredith, can we just talk, please?" he asked in a soft voice.

Meredith finally stopped to look at him. She took in his slightly tanned skin and the bags under his eyes that mirrored her own. He looked just as tired as she did.

"I don't want to." Meredith sighed.

"Please, Mer. You can't avoid me forever. Not after -"

"Do _not_ talk about that right now. I can't talk about that. Especially here, okay?" Meredith snapped, her teeth grinding together.

"Do... do they not know?" Leo asked. "Do they not know anything?"

"No, Leo, they don't! The only person who knows _anything_ is Marley and that's just because she saw us at school together, okay? So just _shut up_ and _get out_." Meredith said loudly, shoving him towards the fireplace.

Leo just groaned, shaking his head. "You've spent the last year avoiding me, Meredith. _Over_ the last year. I know that you're home for a couple weeks now, so you're going to have to talk to me, okay?"

"Who told you I was -" Meredith started. "Teddy. I am going to _kill_ Teddy."

"Don't blame Teddy. I've been bugging him for months now." he sighed.

"I can't do this right now. We'll talk _later_. Now, _go_." she said.

Leo stared at her for another moment before stepping into the fireplace and Flooing away. As he did, it took all Meredith could do not to lose it. She felt like crying. She felt like screaming. She felt like throwing something - _anything_.

"Meredith, love? Who was that?" her mother's soft voice called from the stairs.

Meredith whirled around, wiping her eyes quickly to avoid any evidence of appearing tears. Her mother was climbing down the stairs with Jeremy following quickly behind her.

"No one, Mum." Meredith muttered, walking up the stairs past her mother.

"Meredith -"

**. . .**

Before Hermione could say anything else, her daughter was gone. She looked down at Jeremy who had the same confused expression on his face.

She had been coming out of Jeremy's room when she had heard the yelling - most of it done by Meredith herself.

She didn't recognize the male voice at all, so she knew it wasn't Teddy.

Hermione turned around to follow Meredith, but was stopped by Jeremy's tug on her arm.

"Mum, just give her a minute. You know how she is. She'll talk when she's ready." Jeremy sighed.

She looked down at her son. He was the most like her out of her children by far. He had her hair _and_ her eyes, as well as her intelligence. He was in Ravenclaw, in fact. The only one in the family who had been in that House. Meredith had been in Slytherin, while Marley was in Gryffindor. She had no idea where the twins would end up. She was thankful that they still had more than a few years to go.

"Alright, alright." Hermione sighed, wrapping an arm around Jeremy's shoulders as they headed in the direction of the kitchen.

"Wait, okay. Explain this to me again." she heard Draco say.

"_Dad_, I literally just told you, for the love of God." Marley groaned.

Jeremy went to get his own breakfast as Hermione made her way over to the twins, kissing both of their heads in greeting.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked.

Marley rolled her eyes, heading over to the coffee maker to fill up her cup. Hermione walked to Draco who kissed her quickly before turning his attention back to their daughter.

"Okay. Leo was in Meredith's year at Hogwarts. I seriously don't know anything other than seeing the two hang out at school, okay? We were in different houses, Dad." Marley explained.

"Leo?" Hermione asked, realizing that that must be the person she had heard Meredith argue with.

"Yeah. Leo Greengrass." Draco said.

"Wait, as in -"

"Daphne's son. Except, Daphne _died_ when he was four and he's been living with Astoria ever since."

"Astoria as in..."

"Yes, as in the one I dated."

"Wait, you _dated_ Leo's Aunt?" Marley asked.

Hermione watched as Draco's face went hot. She stepped on her toes, pressing a kiss to her husband's cheek. She knew that he had only dated her to please his own mother.

"It was a long time ago, Marley. When your father and I weren't together, obviously." Hermione decided to say.

"But, I don't understand what he was doing here." Draco groaned.

"Yeah, well, neither do I! How about you go and ask the daughter that _actually_ knows." Marley snapped, grabbing her mug and walking out of the room.

Hermione opened her mouth to say something, and then realized that she now had _two_ mildly upset daughters.

"Okay, Jer's advised us to leave Meredith alone for now." Hermione said, turning to Draco to fill him in.

"Right. And clearly I'm not having any luck with Marley." Draco groaned.

"Okay, _you_ get us both some coffee and I'll go to talk Marley, okay?" Hermione decided.

Draco leaned down, pressing his lips to Hermione's until Jeremy groaned and the twins were laughing. He pulled away, kissing her forehead before she headed off into the living room.

Not even ten in the morning and it was already proving to be a difficult day.

**. . .**

Marley had to hold in a scream at the sight of her mother coming back into the living room.

She just wanted one minute of peace after her nice few minutes with James that morning.

"Your dad's just confused, Marley. We've never heard of this guy before." Hermione said, sitting down next to Marley.

"Meredith's an adult. Why does it matter?" Marley huffed, taking a sip of her coffee.

And then she caught sight of the look on her mother's face and felt bad. She hated being so rude to her parents. She really didn't mean it - she just couldn't help it. Her parents were actually _nice_ people. They were lovely people - and they were still in love. Something she knew wasn't so common these days.

"You've seen how she is. We're just worried about her." Hermione sighed.

"I know, Mum."

"Are... are things okay with you and James now?"

Marley prayed that she wasn't blushing as she nodded to answer Hermione's question. She hated when her parents asked her about James.

"Did he give you that yesterday?" Hermione asked, gesturing towards Marley's wrist.

Marley had almost forgotten about the charm bracelet James had given her yesterday.

Almost.

"Yeah." Marley said, fiddling with it on her wrist. She looked up at her mother who had a smile on her face.

"What?" Marley groaned.

"You know he likes you, too." Hermione observed.

"Mum!" Marley shouted, desperately ready to get away from this conversation.

"And it doesn't matter that you bicker all the time. Me and your father argued a lot when we were at school and look at us now." Hermione said.

"Yes, but we all can't have a perfect love story like you and Dad." Marley groaned.

She watched as Hermione raised her eyebrows before running a hand through her hair and shaking her head. Marley was confused. When she had been younger and asked about her parents' life when they first fell in love, it had sounded magical.

It had been tough at first, and they had lost each other, but never lost the love they held for one another. When they found each other again, it was like falling in love all over again for the first time and they were married within months.

"Trust me, Marley. Me and your Dad had anything but a perfect love story at the beginning." Hermione sighed.

Before Marley could say anything else, Hermione had made her way back into the kitchen, leaving her alone. She pulled her legs back up on the couch, tucking them underneath herself and pulling the blanket onto her.

Before she could take a second and relax, the fireplace erupted into flames. Marley groaned. Her house was never a dull moment.

Much to her delight, James walked out of the fireplace. He was showered and dressed - unlike herself - and headed immediately to her side.

"Back already?" she said in a hushed voice.

"Yeah. I had to get out of the house." he groaned, grabbing Marley's coffee from her hand and taking a sip. "Mum and Dad are rowing. Drives me nuts to listen to it."

"What's it about this time?" Marley sighed.

She knew that Harry and Ginny were still incredibly in love, but fought all the time.

"Mum caught me coming back in through the Floo earlier." James said darkly.

Marley raised her eyebrows. "Shit."

"Yeah. Dad's calming her down, but going about it all the wrong way, as usual. I don't know. It'll be fine." he said.

"Yes, it will be."

"What do you say we get out of here today?"

Marley smiled at him, taking back her mug of coffee and batting her eyes expectantly at him.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Anywhere you want."

**. . .**

Something James loved about Marley was that she was always up for adventure, no matter what it was.

He watched as she beamed at him from the other side of the couch and once again knew that he had made the right choice in coming here instead of sitting at home and listening to his parents fight. He felt bad leaving Albus and Lily to listen by themselves, but he knew that he couldn't take them with him.

Before leaving, he had knocked on his parents door and politely told them to cast a silencing charm before continuing their row.

"Alright, well, I've just got to shower and dress and then I'm yours, okay?" she said, standing up almost instantly.

At her last few words, James felt his heart pound. He wished she was his.

"Okay."

Marley started for the stairs, leaving James alone on the couch. She paused on the stairs, turning around. He had been watching her the whole time, and smiled when she turned to face him.

"James?" she called out.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for the bracelet. It's really beautiful."

James felt his cheeks flush and looked down, hearing Marley's laugh fade as she walked up the stairs and into her room. He groaned as she left, thinking back to their almost kiss last night.

If the adults hadn't interrupted, would they have actually kissed?

James was almost certain they would have.

He had kissed a number of girls over the last few years, but he had never really liked any of them. It had always been Marley for him.

It would always be Marley.

"James?"

He looked up, finding Meredith in front of him by the fireplace. He smiled at her as he took in the sight of her reddened eyes. She had been crying.

"Are you okay?" James decided to ask.

She wiped an eye before nodding. He had seen Meredith upset a whole number of times - she almost always looked upset - over the years, but this time... he felt that something was really wrong.

Besides, she had always looked out for him. Why couldn't he do the same?

"Hey, Meredith. What's going on?" he asked, getting up and walking over to her.

"Nothing, James. It's - it's fine. Is Teddy home?" she said, stepping closer to the fire.

"Yeah, I think so." he said.

Before he could say another word, she stepped into the Floo and was gone.

**Author's Note:** Thank you for reading! Please read and review! xx


	5. Like Hell

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter Five: Like Hell**

"But, I just don't understand, Teddy! _Why_ was he there? Inside my fucking house?" Meredith groaned.

Teddy cast the mug of coffee over in her direction and she grabbed it out of the air greedily.

"_How_ did he get inside your house anyways? Don't your parents have a shit ton of wards up?" Teddy asked.

Meredith blushed deeply. "During Seventh year... I changed the wards to allow him in one night when I was home on Christmas break and... and I guess I never changed them back."

Teddy sighed, shaking his head and reaching across the kitchen table to grab Meredith's hand.

"He wanted to _talk_ about it, Ted. I can't talk about it. I just can't." she sighed. "And _you!_ Why did you tell him I was home for the holidays?"

"I didn't! I just said that _I_ was home for the holidays, and I guess he just put it together."

"Why were you talking to him in the first place?"

"Mer, come on."

Meredith rested her head down on the kitchen table, letting her tears fall from her eyes.

"Shit, okay. Meredith, just... just relax, okay? It'll all be fine. Really, it'll be fine." Teddy sighed.

If she hadn't been so distraught, she would laugh at his horrible comforting tactics. She could almost picture his hair changing colours as it always did when he was stressed out. One of his metamorphmagus abilities that he couldn't keep under control, even at the age of twenty one.

"D'you want to talk to Aunt Gin? I mean, besides me and Victoire, she's the only one who knows." Teddy offered.

Meredith lifted her head. She supposed he was right. Ginny was the only other one who knew what had happened - and she wanted to keep it that way. It meant the world to her that Ginny hadn't told her parents - or even Harry, for all she knew.

"Yeah." Meredith squeaked out.

"Okay, well. Once her and Harry've finished rowing, I'll go fetch her, okay?" Teddy said.

He was standing next to her and before Meredith could do anything else, he pulled her into a tight, familiar hug.

"It'll be okay, Mer."

She had to choke down a laugh. She couldn't even _remember_ the last time things were okay.

**. . .**

"James, where are you taking me?" Marley laughed.

James had put her on the back of his broom _blindfolded_ and then taken off to god knows where.

"Don't you trust me, M&M?" James said from in front of her.

She had her arms tight around his waist and hoped that they kept flying for a long time coming.

"Depends on the day." Marley joked.

"I'll push you off this broom, you know."

"Just keep flying, Potter."

After a short while later, Marley felt them finally touch down on the ground. James helped her off the broom and slowly untied the blindfold to reveal where he had taken them. Marley looked around, finding them somewhere she had never been before.

There was a large lake, frozen enough for skating, as well as a bench next to a single bare tree.

"James, where are we?" Marley asked.

"A place I like to go. Thought I'd bring you, M&M." he explained with a shrug.

"How do you have a place you'd like to go that I don't know about? We've literally been together since the day we were born." Marley laughed.

"Except for the lovely hour before you were born. Yep. Those were the days."

Marley rolled her eyes, shoving him lightly with her elbow. James flashed a crooked grin at her before leaning the broom up against the tree. He held out his hand and Marley took it gingerly, treasuring the warmth.

"Let's skate." James said.

"We don't have skates, you know." Marley sighed.

"Doesn't matter. We can slide around on our shoes." James said, pulling her along to the lake. "Come on, Marley. Please?"

He faked a pout and Marley felt herself cave instantly. She grinned, heading out in front of him onto the ice, never letting go of his hand.

**. . .**

"Okay, Lyra. If you really could just -"

Lyra laughed loudly, pulling the book out from Draco's hands and running away. He sighed in resignation as Hermione laughed from beside him.

"Draco, really. Shouldn't you have learned not to try and reason with six year olds? I mean, we've had enough of them." she said.

"Apparently not." Draco sighed, leaning back on his seat and wrapping an arm around Hermione, pulling her close.

Hermione snuggled in beside him, and Draco treasured the few moments they would have alone. He knew it wouldn't be long before a kid ran back into the room. He loved his children, and he loved being around them - but he also loved having a few moments alone with his wife.

"I'm worried about Meredith." Hermione said softly.

"Me too, angel. I don't know what's going on with her." Draco sighed.

He really was worried about her. It had surprised him that he hadn't even known of Leo Greengrass. In the year that him and Astoria had dated, she had never mentioned the fact that her sister had a child. It also surprised him that his mother had never mentioned the fact that Daphne had passed away.

"She'll talk when she's ready, I think." Hermione said.

"You think so?"

"You know how she is. She keeps things to herself until she can't any longer."

Draco did know how their daughter was. Despite missing the first few years of her life, he knew his daughter as well as the rest of his children. And that's how he knew she was really struggling.

"Where's Marley?" Draco asked.

"I think she's gone out with James, though I'm not entirely sure. She didn't really say." Hermione sighed.

"You know, I just don't understand her. She used to sit with me all the time and actually _like_ talking to me." Draco said.

"She's a teenager. Meredith was the same way." Hermione said with a low chuckle.

"But not as much! I mean, is it normal?" Draco asked.

Hermione laughed at him before kissing his lips softly. He smirked at her. He loved how she was able to take away all his worries and troubles in an instant.

"Yes, it's normal. Harry says that James is the same way." Hermione sighed.

"They're going to owe us money soon, you know." Draco observed with a laugh.

"Three galleons will be coming our way."

The group of them had actually bet money on when James and Marley would become a couple. Draco and Hermione had said it would be before their seventeenth birthday, whereas Harry and Ginny said it would be afterwards. After observing their behaviour on Christmas, Draco was almost certain it wouldn't be long.

"She's stubborn, though. About as stubborn as you." Draco said.

"I know. But... when she's ready to let him in, she will. That's what I did with you, isn't it?"

Draco turned to her, taking her face in his hands and nodding, kissing her again softly.

"Yes. Yes, it is." he whispered.

**. . .**

Meredith couldn't stop shaking. She was glad for the drink that Ginny had made for her and downed it quickly in hopes to calm her nerves.

"You tell your Mum I gave you alcohol this early on in the day and there will be hell to pay, yeah?" Ginny said, sitting down across from her at the table.

Meredith just nodded absentmindedly. She looked up at Ginny who's face was written in concern. Ginny sighed, casting a silencing charm in the direction of the entrance to the room - much to Meredith's thanks.

"He came by the house, Aunt Gin. He wanted to talk to me about-about it." Meredith explained weakly.

"Oh, love..." Ginny said.

"I don't know _how_ to talk about it!"

"You do. You just don't want to."

Meredith took a deep breath and shook her head, all the while knowing that Ginny was right. She could talk about it. She knew how to - but she didn't want to. She hated this. She thought about Leo and what happened _everyday_. This wasn't fair. That part of her life was supposed to be over. If it wasn't over, how could she ever be expected to move on?

"I just want to forget about it all, Aunt Gin." Meredith moaned.

"I know you do... but you can't." Ginny said softly. "Meredith, you are one of the strongest people I've ever known. Going through what you've gone through and still managing to get out of bed everyday... it amazes me. It really does."

"It's so hard." Meredith whispered.

"I know it is, I know." Ginny said, reaching forward and grabbing her hand to give it a comforting squeeze. "Have you changed your mind about talking to your Mum yet?"

Meredith shook her head instantly. "No."

"She'll understand better than you think, you know."

"I don't like worrying her."

"She's stronger than you know."

Meredith was quiet. She didn't want to put this burden on her mother, not after everything she had done for her. She didn't want to disappoint her either.

"You know, Meredith... when you were missing..." Ginny started.

Meredith took in a shaky breath. She still hated thinking about that. She shook slightly and gripped Ginny's hand tighter.

"When you were missing, your Mum handled it beautifully. As well as anyone could. And she still tried to help me and Uncle Harry with what we were going through. She is strong, Meredith. She is more than strong." Ginny said.

Meredith still said nothing. She just wanted to hide in her room forever and cry.

"Just think about it, okay?" Ginny whispered.

"Okay." Meredith whispered back, even though she knew that the chances of her ever telling her Mum were exceptionally slim.

**. . .**

Marley shivered next to James on the bench. He had asked her a few times if she wanted to go back home, but she had declined.

"I wish we were seventeen. Then we could do a warming charm and you'd be okay." James groaned.

"Yeah, I know." Marley said.

James wrapped an arm around Marley's shoulders and pulled her to him. She rested her head on his shoulder and he smiled, breathing in her scent.

"Thank you for bringing me here." she whispered.

"Of course."

"How long have you been coming here for?"

James shrugged. He told Marley everything - almost everything - but he still was reluctant to open up to her. He wasn't sure why. He trusted her more than anyone in the world, but there was always a hesitance in him to completely open up.

"A while, I guess." he mumbled.

She sat up, looking at him with widened eyes. He slid his arm down her, wrapping around her waist.

"James, what is it?" she asked softly.

"Do you know about the man who kidnapped your sister when she was a kid?" he asked, praying that she did. He really didn't want to have to be the one to share that with her.

"Sort of. I mean, I know he was friends with my Mum and your Dad, but I don't know who he is." she said with a shrug.

"Well, yeah. That's what I knew, too. And then, a couple years ago, Mum and Dad took me and Al and Lily shopping in Diagon Alley and we ran into this guy. Dad almost lost it. I've never seen him that way before. He was freaking out and we weren't even _talking_ to the bloke. Mum went super scary quiet and steered us away." he explained.

"Okay, so... who is he?" Marley asked, her nose scrunched up in confusion.

"Apparently he's... he's my Mum's brother." James said slowly.

"_What?_" Marley gasped.

"Yeah. Mum's brother. His name is Ron. I don't really know much details, but I did find out that I'm actually _related_ to the guy who took your sister and messed her up. So, I got on my broom and just flew around and found this place and I've been coming here ever since."

Marley was quiet, taking in what he had just said. He felt bad having to explain that to her, but he knew that she deserved to know. He had been surprised that his parents hadn't told him about Ron - and the same with Marley's parents to her.

"Does Meredith ever talk about that?" James decided to ask.

"No. Never. Neither do my parents. At least when I'm around. All I know is that he - Ron - was sick and that's why he took her."

"My parents said it was a brain tumour and that's why he's not in Azkaban or something."

Marley rested her head back on James' shoulder and he pulled her close. He closed his eyes, loving the feeling of having her close. They stayed like that for a while, until both of them were shivering and he knew that they should leave.

"Marley?" he whispered.

"Yeah?" she answered, lifting her head off his shoulder.

"We should..." he started, realizing just how close they still were. "We should probably head back."

His eyes flicked towards her lips. He knew that he could make his move right then and there. There was no one to stop them this time. He began to move closer and closer.

Suddenly, Marley was standing, grabbing the broom from the tree.

"Let's go." she said with a smile.

James cursed in his head, but faked a smile at her.

What if he had missed his chance by waiting so long?

**Author's Note:** Please read and review! xx Thanks for reading!


	6. Hiding the Truth

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter Six: Hiding the Truth**

Marley was cursing herself.

Why had she moved away?

James had most definitely been going to kiss her - something she thought about every time she was with him and a lot of the time she _wasn't_ with him. She had seen him look at her lips and move closer and then...

She had gotten scared.

She had chickened out and moved away.

What if they kissed and James realized that she wasn't all that special? She knew that he had been with a lot of girls at school, whereas she hadn't dated many for more than a few trips to Hogsmeade.

What if they tried things and it didn't work out?

She wasn't sure she could handle not having James in her life.

She needed advice, and she honestly wasn't sure who to go to. Marley was sure she could go to Roxanne, her best friend besides James. But... did she want to? She could go to her mother, or Meredith.

Meredith seemed so distracted and distraught with her own things that Marley wasn't sure if she could dare to bother her with something else.

But then again... Meredith had always been there for her.

Marley groaned, sitting up on her bed and deciding that she would go to whoever she saw first - her Mom or Meredith. She padded out into the hall and headed down into the living room, finding her mother sitting on the couch with a book and a cup of tea.

She was happy to see that she was alone - it was a rare moment when either one of Marley's parents had a second to themselves.

"Mum?" Marley called out tentatively.

Hermione looked up, smiling at her daughter instantly. "Yes, love?"

"C-can I talk to you for a second?" Marley asked.

Hermione shut the book and placed it on the table in front of her before patting down on the couch for Marley to join her. Marley sighed and took in a deep breath of courage - she had to talk about it now. She sat down next to her Mother who summoned a blanket over with her wand to cover the both of them.

"Thanks." Marley said. "Okay, so..."

"What is it?" Hermione asked.

"Y-you know how I - uh - I..." Marley stammered.

She hated opening up about things like this. But she knew that her mother almost always had good advice.

"Is this about James?"

And apparently was a mindreader.

"How did you know?" Marley asked.

"I just do, love. What about him?" she said.

"Well... I just... I really like him Mum, and I think that he likes me too, but..." Marley started, sighing in sadness. "I'm afraid that if we try things out and give it a go and it doesn't work out... I'll-I'll lose my best friend."

Hermione smiled softly at Marley, in just a way that made Marley feel comfortable.

"Do you really like him, Marley?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, Mum. I really _really_ do." Marley whispered.

"Then, you have to go with what your heart wants. I think that boy is head over heels for you, love and I know that he already makes you happy."

"Yeah, he really does."

"Then, you should follow your heart."

Marley knew that her Mom was right, but she still couldn't shake her sense of fear.

"What if it doesn't work out, Mum?" Marley whimpered.

"But what if it does?"

Marley was quiet and then leaned into her Mother, allowing her to wrap an arm around her shoulders and pull her close - something she was sure she hadn't done in years. She felt Hermione begin to stroke her hair, the way she used to do when she tucked her into bed.

"Let me tell you something that I haven't told any of your siblings, okay?" Hermione started.

Marley turned her head slightly to look at her Mother. She was almost certain that Hermione told Meredith everything. Those two had always had a different relationship than the rest of her siblings - and if Marley was being honest, it had always made her a little jealous.

"You know what you said about your father and I having a perfect love story?" Hermione started.

"Well, yeah. I mean, it's _true_. Everyone always says how perfect you two are and how you got together in Hogwarts, Mum." Marley sighed, rolling her eyes.

Even her friends who didn't really know her parents raved about Hermione and Draco. She knew that her Mum was still a tad famous from being a part of the people who had saved the Wizarding World all those years ago. Her name would always be known.

"Marley, there is so much that you don't know about your father and I." Hermione sighed. "When we were apart for a few years, I... I had a small relationship with your Uncle Harry."

Marley sat up, moving out of her Hermione's grasp with her eyes bulging. "_You and Uncle Harry?"_ she shouted.

Hermione nodded slowly. "Yes. And... and when things were over, I just knew that our friendship was strong enough to overcome it. And look at us now - twenty years later and still the best of friends."

Marley could not believe it. Her mother and James's father had _been_ together? She was almost certain that Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny had been together since the instant the War was over.

"I can't believe _you_ were with _Uncle Harry!_" Marley shouted.

"Shh! Please, don't bring that up around your father, okay? It always gets to him." Hermione sighed. "The only reason I've told you is to prove to you that you _can_ take a chance with James and that even if things don't work out, you can be okay."

"But..."

"Now, what I believe you and James have together is entirely different from what Harry and I had, but that doesn't mean if things don't work out you can't be friends anymore, okay?"

Marley nodded, still trying to process the information she had just been told. It was way too weird to understand. She _had_ to tell James.

"Does Meredith know about that, Mum?" Marley asked.

Hermione shook her head. "I don't think so, no. She was way too young to remember."

Marley still couldn't process any of it. She knew that her mother was trying to be helpful, but she couldn't shake the weird image of her mother with Harry.

"Just follow your heart, love." Hermione whispered, leaning towards Marley and kissing the top of her head.

Marley nodded, now focusing on James once more. She needed to see him. Maybe if she saw him again, she would know for sure if she was ready for what she was almost certain they both wanted.

"Can I pop over to the Potter's house?" Marley asked, standing up.

Hermione smiled, seemingly amused. "You would go even if I said no."

"True."

Hermione got on her feet and pulled Marley into a hug. Marley tentatively let her mother hold her and hugged her back, closing her eyes and allowing herself to feel like a small child once more.

"I love you, Marley." Hermione whispered.

"Love you, too, Mum." Marley whispered back, letting go and walking over to the fireplace.

**. . .**

"One more, please."

The bartender poured another glass of FireWhiskey and pushed it towards Meredith. She knew she had exceeded the amount she usually had, but she didn't care. She needed to drink to forget tonight. She needed to forget for at least a second.

Meredith downed the contents in front of her and dropped coins on the bar, pushing them towards the barkeep.

"Cheers, mate." she muttered, standing up and steadying herself when the world spun just a bit.

"Steady there, Mer."

She whirled around, finding Leo approaching her. She groaned instantly. She had done _so_ well at avoiding him over the last two years - and now he was everywhere in one day.

"Leo, please leave me alone." Meredith moaned, turning around and trying to hurry away from him.

"Please talk to me, Meredith. We need to talk." he protested, grabbing gently onto her arm.

She turned around and finally allowed herself to look into his eyes - his deep, green eyes that were already searching hers. Meredith instantly felt the connection between them once more. It was still there. Of course it was.

This was Leo.

She felt her lip quiver and braced herself to stop a breakdown. She would _not_ lose it in front of Leo. She refused.

"P-p-please let me go, Leo." she whispered.

"You can't avoid me forever." he sighed.

"I know I can't. But I sure as hell can try." Meredith said, snatching her arm away and turning away.

As she did so, she tripped over her own feet, sending herself flying forward and onto her face. When she collided with the ground, she let out a sob - not because it hurt at all, but because she was _so_ frustrated. She was so done with everything.

"I think you've had a little too much to drink, Mer. Let me take you home, okay?" he whispered, crouching down next to her.

Meredith was too tired and ashamed to protest. She felt him pull her to a standing position before feeling the swirling sensation of Apparation take over. When she opened her eyes, she found the two of them safely inside her bedroom - which she was glad for. She hated seeing her parents when she was drunk.

"Thanks." she muttered, collapsing down onto her green and silver bed. "You can go."

Leo crouched down in front of her and sighed sadly, shaking his head. "I'm here now."

"Please, Leo." she whispered tearfully.

"Look, Mer... if you hate me, okay. I guess that you've got to hate _something_, but -"

"I don't hate you, Leo! Don't you see that? If I hated you... would I be so upset?"

He was quiet as he stood up. Leo sat himself down beside Meredith and she turned her face away, letting out a choked sob. She buried her face in her hands, feeling absolutely horrible. She didn't want to push Leo away, but she couldn't face finally speaking about it.

"Okay, well... does this mean that you'll talk to me?"

"Leo -"

"Not right now, but soon?"

Meredith looked up at him. He looked so incredibly desperate that she knew she couldn't refuse him forever. She would have to face him. She would have to face it all.

"Okay. Soon." she whispered.

Leo leaned forward and kissed her forehead, causing a deep blush to erupt onto her cheeks.

"Thank you." he whispered back. "Now, get into bed, okay? It's late and you've gotta sleep this off."

Meredith obediently crawled under the covers and Leo pulled them tight over her. She was reminded sadly of the few days after it had happened, when Leo had done absolutely everything for her. He had held her hand, he had let her shout at him, he had done everything.

"Night, Mer. Sleep well." he whispered, bending down and kissing her forehead once more.

And then, she heard the sound of Disapparation and fell apart.

**. . .**

Hermione heard the sound of the Floo and turned her head immediately, hoping it was her daughter. She was getting tired, but wanted to stay awake until Marley got home. She could still hardly believe that her daughter had come to her for advice once more - and was a little bit astonished that she had told her about Harry.

Hermione sighed sadly when she was that it was in fact Harry, and not Marley.

"Hi, Harry." she said with a yawn.

Instantly, she noticed his worrisome expression. She sat up straighter on the couch and felt herself jolt more awake.

"Harry, what is it?" she asked.

He made his way over to Hermione, sitting down beside her. He looked at her curiously, and Hermione knew that he was assessing her mood level before deciding how to spill whatever it was that was concerning him.

"Harry, out with it." Hermione said with a deep sigh.

"Right, okay, well... Ginny's just received a Floo call from her Mum and..." he started, clearing his throat.

Hermione nodded encouragingly. "And?"

"And Molly's said that... that Ron's come to her."

Hermione's heart all but stopped. She blinked her eyes, knowing she had to have heard Harry wrong.

"I'm sorry, what?" she asked.

"Ron's come to her. He came to the Burrow, Hermione. He's there right now. She didn't know how to turn him away." Harry divulged.

Hermione shook her head. "No. Why-why would he do that? No one's spoken to him in sixteen years, Harry! Why would he... why?"

Hermione felt herself shake. She hardly let herself think about the man that had once been her best friend - the man she had almost married, the man who had beaten her, the man who had kidnapped her daughter for months.

"I... I don't know. Molly said she'd call back in the morning." Harry said.

"But... why is she even talking to him? Why didn't she tell him to leave?" Hermione asked.

"Because he's her son, Hermione."

"I don't care! He ruined my baby girl, Harry. She was never the same after that, and you _know_ that. She can't trust people because of what he did to her _and_ me!"

"Hermione, I know that. I was there for everything, you know that."

Hermione felt her lip quiver and Harry instantly wrapped his arm around her, pulling her to him.

"How about you come over in the morning, okay?" Harry whispered as she rested her head on his shoulder. "That way you can hear what Molly says."

"Okay." Hermione whimpered.

"Now, where's Draco?" Harry asked.

"I-I don't know, actually. I think he went out earlier and he hasn't come back yet."

**. . .**

Draco took a deep breath before knocking at the door. He knew that he shouldn't be there, but he couldn't help himself. He was just too damn curious. The door opened, revealing the raven haired women that he hadn't seen up close in almost two decades. He had seen her from afar on Platform 9 and 3/4 dropping off her children, but that hardly counted.

"Draco." Astoria said, her eyes widening at him.

He attempted a weak smile at her. "Astoria."

"It's uh... it's been a long time. What are you doing here?" she said.

"I just need to ask you something. May I come in? Or are you busy?"

She moved aside, gesturing for him to step inside the door. She led him down al long hallway into a small sitting room. He sat down on a chair across from her spot on the couch. The silence was incredibly awkward.

"Are you alone?" Draco asked.

Astoria raised her eyebrows at him and nodded skeptically. "Yes."

"Okay, I... I need to ask you something about Daphne."

Astoria's expression darkened and Draco felt bad for having to ask. He thought about getting up and leaving - but then he thought about how distraught Meredith had seemed and knew he had to get as much information as he could.

"What about her?" Astoria asked, her lips pursing together tightly.

"I heard that she passed away." Draco began carefully.

"She did. A long time ago." Astoria sighed. "Why are you asking me this?"

"Well, I just found out about it this morning. I had no idea. I'm really sorry, Astoria."

She nodded her head politely and shrugged at him. "How did you find out?"

"Well... your nephew was in my kitchen this morning."

Astoria widened her eyes at him before groaning. "Whatever Leo's done, I apologize for him."

"No, he hasn't - actually, I don't know what he's done."

"What d'you mean?"

"Well, it's clear that he knows my daughter Meredith and has done something to upset her."

Astoria shrugged. "Got me. Leo's been... his behaviour changed dramatically a few years back. He got back from school and was just never the same since. It's clear that something happened, but I really don't know what."

"You have no idea?" Draco asked.

"None. I've tried to get it out of him. My husband - Theodore - tried, too, but never really got anywhere farther than I did."

Draco sighed, defeated. "Alright, well, sorry to bother you, then."

"Wait, Draco, how is she? Your daughter, I mean. I read about her in the papers all those years ago."

"She's... you know. She's grown up well. Ask Leo about her, would you? And owl me if he says anything?"

"Of course."

"Thanks, Tori."

They sat in silence, Draco unsure if he should leave. He looked at Astoria, finding her eyes filled with question.

"What?" he asked.

Astoria shook her head. "No, nothing, I just..."

"Astoria, what is it?"

"When Leo was in school - around Sixth Year, I think - he wrote us and said he had a girlfriend. He didn't say her last name and I didn't think about it then, but it had to have been your daughter."

"He said Meredith?"

"Yes."

Draco sat back in his seat, wondering why his daughter had never mentioned Leo.

**Author's Note:** thanks for reading! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! xx also, Happy New Year! I hope that it's a great year for all of you lovely people! (:


	7. Don't Let Me Go

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter Seven: Don't Let Me Go**

"Look, Mum - er - it's alright. Really, I'm sure it is."

Marley stopped in her tracks on the way to the Potter kitchen at the sound of Ginny's sobs and James's nervous tone. She was sure that she had only ever heard Ginny cry when she had been pregnant with Lily and overly emotional.

Marley had ended up Flooing upstairs to her bedroom instead to change her outfit before heading over to the Potter's. Now she wished that she had just come straight away.

"Shall I go find Dad?" James asked.

"N-no! I'll be f-f-fine, really." Ginny choked.

She looked back at the Floo, wondering if she should simply turn back and go home. Sighing, Marley knew she couldn't. She had to see if her godmother was alright.

Before she could head further into the living room, James appeared in the doorway between the kitchen. His eyebrows raised at the sight of her and she instantly blushed.

"I can come back if you'd like." Marley offered quietly.

"No, no. Stay." James said, shaking his head and quickly crossing the room to meet her. "I'll just be a second. Mum's... yeah."

He quickly darted back into the kitchen, leaving Marley to herself. She sat down upon a couch having only a second to herself before hearing the pitter patter of somebody's feet. She looked up to see Lily standing in a nightgown holding a stuffed teddy bear.

"Lily, what are you doing?" Marley asked, getting up immediately and stepping to the younger girl.

"I heard Mummy crying." Lily said in a soft voice, her green eyes wide.

"Yeah. Mummy's just a bit upset right now, but James is looking after her, okay? Don't you worry." Marley soothed, crouching down before her and smoothing back her hair.

"Where's Daddy?" Lily asked, her lip beginning to quiver.

"I don't know, Lil." Marley said.

She quickly recognized the beginnings of Lily starting to cry. She had been around the girl enough to know how easily upset she was when she was tired - as she clearly was right now. Marley scooped her up into her arms, glad that she was still small enough to do so.

"I want M-m-mummy." Lily whimpered, ducking her head into Marley's shoulder.

"Okay, love. Let's go." Marley said, deciding to do as Lily wanted and head into the kitchen.

She found Ginny sitting at the kitchen table, with James standing next to her, his hand clasped on her shoulder and a nervous expression on his face.

"I'm really sorry, Aunt Gin, but Lily wants you and she was starting to get upset." Marley said, approaching her.

Ginny looked up at Marley, her eyes red as evidence from a lengthy amount of crying. She stood up and took Lily from her arms.

"Thank you, Marley." Ginny whispered. "Hi, Lil. Let's get you back into bed."

Without another word, Ginny left the room, leaving the two teens alone. Marley looked back at James, finding him in the same place, his fists clenched at his sides.

"What is it?" Marley asked, stepping to him.

"I can't stand seeing my Mum cry." James stammered.

"I know. Neither can I." she said, placing a gentle hand on his arm.

For a moment, he flinched away and Marley closed her eyes, trying not to let it get to her. Sometimes, when he was like this - stressed out and frustrated and upset - he pushed her away. And she usually let him.

"Don't." she managed to whisper.

"Don't what?" he said harshly.

"Don't push me away, James."

He crossed his arms tight over his chest and turned away from her. Marley closed her eyes again and took a deep breath, trying not to get upset with him.

"James." she said.

"Can you go please, Marley? I... I just need to be alone." he said.

"No. I'm not going." Marley insisted.

He whirled back around, this time with his own eyes watering. Marley's heart softened at the sight. She hadn't seen him cry since they were kids and she wasn't exactly sure how to handle it.

"James, hey. What is it?" she asked softly.

When it became clear that he wasn't going to say anything, Marley stepped closer to him. She wrapped her arms around him carefully, despite his continual moving protests.

"Marley, _stop_. Let me go." he grumbled.

"_No_. Not this time." she whispered.

After a minute, he hugged her back, much tighter than usual. She began to rub his back slowly as she held him, feeling him just become more and more relaxed.

"We don't have to talk about it, okay? Not at all. But I'm here and I'm not going anywhere." Marley whispered, pulling back just enough to look at him.

"What are you doing here, anyways?" he asked.

Marley opened her mouth, thinking back to her conversation with her mother. Holding him in her arms, Marley knew that she never wanted to be anywhere else. She didn't care if she was young - she knew.

But... this didn't feel like the right time to tell him. Then again, would there ever be a right time?

"It... we can talk about it later, okay? Right now, I'm here for you." Marley whispered.

"M&M, I gotta get out of this house." he said.

With that, Marley nodded, grabbing his hand and pulling him back towards the fireplace to bring him to her home.

**. . .**

When James and Marley arrived at the Malfoy's house, James was surprised to find his father with his arm wrapped around a crying Hermione.

Why were all the women crying tonight?

"Mum? Are you alright?" Marley asked instantly, letting go of James' hand hand rushing to the couch.

Hermione sat up, wiping her eyes and Harry straightened in his seat, clearing his throat before catching his son's eye.

"I'm fine, Marley. Just fine." Hermione croaked.

"Dad, Mum's really upset. You need to go talk to her." James sighed.

Harry sighed. "Bollocks. Okay, Hermione, will you be okay until Draco gets home?"

"I can take care of myself, Harry." Hermione grumbled.

"Honestly, Hermione..." Harry groaned.

"Yes, I'll be fine."

James watched as his father leaned down to kiss Hermione's forehead before approaching James himself.

"Thank you, son." Harry said quickly before stepping into the Floo and disappearing.

"Mum, what's wrong? What can I do?" Marley asked, sitting down on the couch just as Hermione stood up.

"It's fine, Marley. I'm just going to go lie down. If you're still up when your father gets home, please tell him where I am, okay?" Hermione said quickly, bending down to kiss Marley's forehead.

"But, Mum -"

But Hermione was already rushing out of the room and up the stairs. James looked down at Marley's shocked expression and sat down on the couch next to her, pulling her into his arms without a second thought.

"Well... it's been a weird few minutes." James decided to say.

James looked at Marley from inside their embrace. His arm was wrapped around her, pulling her as close as he thought she would allow, even though he wanted her much closer. He couldn't believe that he'd almost lost it in the kitchen with her. He hated seeming weak, especially around her. Even though he knew that she wouldn't mind if he let his guard down.

"Marley?" he whispered softly.

She turned her face to his. He heard her let out a small gasp as he knew she realized just how close they were. James knew if he moved just an inch, his nose would touch hers.

"What?" she whispered back.

He could smell her lip gloss - raspberry. The same kind he had associated with her for years. She was almost never seen without it. She was so close, why wasn't he just going for it? He knew that she liked him too - he was almost certain.

But he knew that he was afraid she would move away again. Then again, she hadn't moved away so far and they were pretty damn close.

James leaned in closer, getting ready to go for it. He heard Marley take in a shaky breath and he reached for her hand, taking it in his and giving her a comforting squeeze. He moved in, watching as Marley shut her eyes. He did the same, taking his other hand and cupping her cheek gently before he -

"Uh..."

James sprung back, feeling Marley do the same. His face was hot as he ran a hand through his hair, looking around to find Marley's father staring at them with crossed arms.

"Oh, uh, hi Dad." Marley muttered.

James nodded at Draco, his face growing warmer by the second as he inched away from Marley. Draco had a smirk on his face and James suddenly wanted to be anywhere else.

They had been so _close_.

"I'm gonna just - uh - yeah." James mumbled, standing up and heading over to the fireplace.

"No, James. Wait." Marley called out.

James was determined to leave. He could feel Draco's eyes on him. He knew that his parents and Marley's were expecting them to get together, but he also knew just how protective Draco was over his children - especially his girls.

"Stay. Please." Marley whispered.

James sighed, knowing that he couldn't leave. Not when she didn't want him to.

**. . .**

Draco felt bad for interrupting Marley and James - but then again, he didn't really feel all that bad at all. They both were so clearly embarrassed, but Draco really didn't mind. He knew how they each felt about each other - but that didn't mean that he wanted anyone making a move on his little girl.

"Dad... can you - you know - leave?" Marley groaned.

Draco raised his eyebrows at Marley, finding her having crossed her own arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at him. Her stance reminded him clearly of his wife when she was angry.

"Mum's upstairs. She was in tears. So, you know, go." Marley continued.

Draco's whole demeanor instantly changed. Hermione had been crying?

Without another word, he left the room, running up the stairs to his room. When he opened the door, he found Hermione curled up under the blankets sobbing softly.

"Oh, angel." Draco whispered, approaching her instantly.

He suddenly cursed himself for having gone to see Astoria at all - especially when Hermione had so clearly needed him.

She looked up, her eyes were wide and filled with tears. He pulled her into his arms, holding her close against him as he had so many times.

"What's happened?" he whispered.

And then she recounted what Harry had told her. Fury erupted in Draco instantly. He couldn't believe that Ron had the nerve to show up again. He had never gotten the chance to see the bastard who had taken his daughter - but he knew that if he ever saw him again, he wasn't sure if Ron would make it out alive.

"So, Molly's going to call back in the morning?" Draco said.

Hermione nodded. "Yeah. Harry's said we could come over, see what Molly has to say for ourselves."

"Okay."

Draco really didn't know what to do. Should they tell Meredith about this? She wasn't a little girl anymore - she had a right to know. But then again, she already seemed so worn down and broken these days.

"What the hell does he want, Draco? Why is he back? He's left everyone alone for all these years and-and why can't he just do it forever?" Hermione mumbled into his shoulder.

Draco held her closer, sliding down underneath the blankets. "I know, love. I know. What can I do?"

"I don't know. This." Hermione mumbled.

"Okay, angel. Okay."

**. . .**

Marley took James' hand in hers and led him up the stairs, following the path to her room.

"Marley, are you sure this is a good idea?" James whispered.

"Dad's going to be distracted with Mum all night. They'll never know. Besides, you said you needed to get out of the house and you stay in my room half the time anyways." she reasoned.

Marley couldn't stop thinking about the fact that James had almost kissed her. That was without a doubt the closest they had come - and Marley cursed her Dad for having interrupted.

James finally intertwined his fingers in hers and gave her hand a light squeeze. She opened the door to her room, letting him go in first. He sat down on her bed, and she sat down beside him, tucking her knees up to her chest and hugging them.

"Can I ask you something?" she said.

He nodded. She had to ask him what was going on at home. She had to know. He had been so completely distraught and he knew that it had to be something more than Ginny crying.

"What's going on at your house?" she asked.

"Nothing." he said immediately.

"James, come on. Your mum was crying. _You_ were almost -"

"Don't, Marley. Please."

Marley quieted down immediately. She knew how James operated. He would stay quiet until he was ready to speak - and then he would open up.

"Look, I don't know what's going on." he began. "All I know is that my grandma was on the Floo earlier, talking about Ron - the man who kidnapped your sister - and saying that he had _showed up_ at her house. And then Mum and Dad were shouting at each other - because that's all they do these days - and Mum was crying and Dad just left to go - well, _here_ apparently - and I can't take _listening_ to them row anymore. I mean, Marley, they're worse than me and you. Lily's... Lily's worried that they're going to split up."

Marley's heart broke for him as she tried to process everything he had just said. It now made sense why her own Mum had been crying. Was she going to tell Meredith? Should Meredith even _know_?

And Lily - poor, six year old Lily - should not have to worry about her parents splitting up. That should be the last of her worries.

"James, come here." Marley whispered, holding out her hand for him.

James moved to her and she wrapped her arm around his shoulder.

"Are you worried that they're going to-to split up?" Marley asked hesitantly.

"Yeah. So's Albus, but he's not saying anything. He just shuts himself in his room and doesn't come out."

Marley looked at him, her heart breaking for all of the worries and vulnerability he held. She touched his cheek softly, her stomach filling with butterflies as it always did.

"You can sleep here again tonight, okay? And any night you want." she whispered.

As much as she wanted to kiss him - she knew that the moment had passed. She would have to wait - wait for him to do it, or wait for there to be another moment like earlier. And she would wait.

She would wait forever for James.

**Author's Note:** Thanks for reading, as always. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! xxx Happy New Year again to everyone! (:


	8. Together Again

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**Author's Note:** My sister is driving me crazy begging me to post more. She's threatened to break into my computer. So, here we go. Please enjoy and thanks for reading! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! xx

**Chapter Eight: Together Again**

Meredith awoke with an instant headache.

She groaned, turning over in her bed as the night's events washed over her.

Leo.

Leo had been the one to bring her home. She groaned even louder at that. She grabbed her wand from her bedside table and summoned a Hangover Cure potion from her dresser and downed it in one go.

Suddenly, before the potion even had time to take full effect, there came a knock at her door followed by the slow opening. She sat up, finding Lyra standing in pajamas and holding a stuffed lion.

"Meredith?" Lyra whispered.

"Hey, Ly. What are you doing?" Meredith said, holding out her arms for her sister to join her on the bed.

Lyra quickly scampered into the room, hoisting herself up onto the bed. Meredith pulled her youngest sister closest to her, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Mummy and Daddy haven't gotten out of their room yet. Scorp went downstairs with Jeremy, but I didn't want to." Lyra explained.

Meredith narrowed her eyes in confusion. Her parents were almost always up before the kids. She knew how much her Mum liked to make them breakfast. And it wasn't Christmas anymore - they should be awake. She was almost certain that her father had to work today, whereas Hermione was off until after the New Year.

"How about I get up with you and go downstairs, okay?" Meredith sighed.

Lyra nodded, though her expression stayed sad. Meredith felt her heart break a little at the sight of the little girl - just as it always did.

"I'll let you put extra sugar on your cereal, okay?" Meredith said.

Lyra's expression instantly brightened and Meredith couldn't help but grin at her. The two girls made their way down the stairs and to the kitchen where Scorpius and Jeremy were already sitting. Lyra sat down between her brothers and Meredith poured her a bowl of cereal before handing her the sugar.

"Don't tell Mum and Dad, yeah?" she said, watching as the twins passed the sugar back and forth.

Meredith knew very well that they would probably become extra hyper for a good few hours after that. She sat down at the table, casting herself over a mug of coffee and taking a long sip instantly. She heard her siblings chattering away, but she couldn't listen. All she could think about was Leo and how she had promised to speak with him.

Damn drunken promises.

She had promised to speak to him soon - but how soon was soon?

"Meredith?" Jeremy called, distracting her from her thoughts.

"Yeah, Jer?" she sighed.

"What's wrong with Mum? I walked past her room last night to get myself a drink and I heard her crying."

Meredith's eyes widened. She _hated_ just the thought of her Mother being upset. She stood up, cradling her coffee cup in her hands.

"I don't know, Jer. But, I'll go see, okay?" Meredith said, reaching forward and touching her brother's hair.

Jeremy nodded, turning his attention back to his cereal. Meredith quickly headed out of the kitchen to her parent's room. She paused just outside the door, wishing that she had some Extendable Ears to listen in with. She knew that it had to be something serious if they weren't even up yet.

"Do we tell her?" her father whispered.

Meredith froze, hearing them. She stood closer to the door, pressing her ear against it.

"I... I don't know. Let's just wait and see what Molly says first." Hermione said.

Meredith stared at the door, wondering who they were speaking about. She heard them start to move and she quickly walked away from the door, heading to the stairs.

What the hell was going on?

**. . .**

Marley woke up first - something that never happened when James stayed over. She lifted her head off of his chest and looked at him. He looked peaceful and vulnerable, just as he always did when he was asleep. She held in a sigh and debated whether or not to lie back down on his chest.

His arms suddenly tightened around her waist and her eyes widened. She laid back down, wrapping an arm across him. She had been pleased when James had immediately pulled her to him again last night - she definitely liked this new way of sleeping.

He moved underneath her and she sat up slightly again, looking at him. She watched as his eyes slowly blinked open, taking in his surroundings before finally coming to rest on her.

"Morning." he mumbled.

"Morning." she whispered, being very aware that his arms made no movements to let go of her.

"Sleep well?" he asked.

"Yeah. You?"

"Yeah."

For a silent moment, they just stared at one another. Marley felt her heart rate increase just by the way that James was looking at her.

"I should probably..." he started slowly.

"Yeah." she whispered.

After another minute, he let go of her and sat up. Marley sighed, crossing her arms tight over her chest as he got out of bed, making his way to the fireplace.

"You don't have to go home, if you want." Marley said suddenly, realizing that all she wanted to do was make him stay.

James smiled at her. "I know, but Mum's probably having a fit that I'm not home. Again."

Marley nodded, already knowing his answer before he had even said it. He turned towards the Floo and Marley stood up, getting ready to head downstairs for some coffee.

"Marley?" James said.

She turned to look at him, finding James staring at her with a sudden intensity.

"What?" she asked.

"I..." he started.

Marley nodded, encouraging him. Suddenly, James was crossing the room to her. He took his face in her hands and she gasped slightly, staring up at him with widened eyes.

And then, he kissed her.

Marley's heart felt like it was exploding in her chest. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. She was _finally_ kissing James. She had thought of this for _so_ long - and it was so much better than she imagined. He dropped a hand from her cheek, letting it land on her waist and gently pull her as close as he could get.

After a long moment, they both pulled away, gasping for breath. Marley stared at him, completely and utterly speechless.

"God, I've been wanting to do that forever." he whispered.

All she could do was nod.

**. . .**

Hermione splashed her face with cold water and sighed.

She knew that all of her kids - possibly with the exception of Marley - had to be up already. Hermione herself had been awake for hours, but she hadn't been able to force herself to get out of bed.

Draco came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his face in her hair.

"We should go downstairs. The children are probably up already." Hermione whispered.

"I know." he murmured.

Hermione turned around in his arms and kissed him softly. She had to get over to Harry and Ginny's. She couldn't stand not knowing what Molly was saying about Ron - if she had said anything yet.

Draco grabbed her hand and guided her downstairs to the kitchen. Just as Hermione thought, all of her kids were present - except for Marley. Meredith was sitting next to Jeremy, hugging her knees and cradling a mug of coffee in her hands. Hermione instantly noticed a worried expression on her face.

"Sorry we overslept, you guys." Hermione murmured, kissing Lyra, Scorpius and Jeremy on the forehead.

"It's okay, Mum." Jeremy said.

Hermione looked at Meredith who was avoiding all eye contact with her. Hermione cleared her throat and Meredith finally looked up, her eyes widened.

"You okay, Mum?" Meredith asked.

Hermione nodded slowly, feeling as if she were a robot. She instantly knew that both Meredith and Jeremy didn't believe her.

"Meredith, could you watch the kids for us this morning?" Draco asked suddenly. "We've got to head over to the Potter's for a bit."

"No, Daddy!" Lyra suddenly yelled.

Hermione looked at her youngest daughter, surprised when she found tears in her eyes. Hermione immediately walked to her and bent down next to the chair.

"What's wrong, Ly?" Hermione asked.

"I want to come." Lyra whimpered.

"Sweetheart, we need to talk about grownup things, okay?" Hermione said.

"No, Mummy! Bring me please." Lyra begged.

Hermione felt bad. First she hadn't been up with her kids in the morning - one of her favourite parts of the day, and now she was leaving.

She did suppose that she _could_ bring her two youngest. Jeremy was old enough to take care of himself. She could let Lyra and Scorpius play with Lily while they spoke with Molly Weasley.

"Okay. You and Scorp can come." Hermione sighed.

Lyra's eyes instantly cleared up and she threw her arms around Hermione. Hermione lifted her off of her chair, knowing full well that Lyra was almost too old for that. She had to take these moments when she could.

"Jer, do you want to come?" Hermione asked.

"No thanks, Mum." Jeremy said.

"Are you sure? You could hang out with Albus, I'm sure."

"Yeah, I know. Maybe later."

Hermione bent down to her son and kissed his forehead again. "There's a book in my room sitting on my bed that I think you'd like. Why don't you check it out today, okay?"

Jeremy beamed at her, getting up from his seat immediately. "Thanks, Mum!"

**. . .**

James just stared at Marley as he held her close. Her eyes were shining brightly with happiness, as he was sure his own were.

He had _finally_ kissed her.

He had been about to leave when he realized there never would be a perfect moment. He just simply had to go for it. And he was really glad that he had.

"Come with me." James whispered.

"Where?" she asked.

"My house. Spend the day with me, Marley."

She nodded immediately and James knew she hadn't taken a second thought. He pulled her back to him, pressing his lips softly against hers. He heard her sigh with delight and he couldn't help but smile into the kiss. With all the girls he had kissed, he knew that none of them compared to this.

Marley.

She was everything to him.

"I've got to get dressed first." she mumbled, pulling away.

"No. Let's just go. Spend the day in pajamas and watch films, okay?" he whispered.

He knew how much Marley liked films. He was glad that her Mother and his Father had shown them some Muggle customs. They weren't all that bad.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her to the fireplace. A few moments later and they both stepped out inside his home. He felt his face pale dramatically at the sight of his entirely filled living room.

Almost everyone possible was there.

Ginny, Harry, Draco, Hermione, Grandma Molly and Granddad Arthur, Teddy, Lyra, Scorpius, Albus and Lily. The only people missing were Jeremy and Meredith.

"Shit." James groaned.

"James, _language_ please." his Mother groaned.

He looked at Marley who's face was completely red. She crossed her arms over her tank top clad chest and just blushed even deeper.

"Where have you been?" Ginny demanded.

"Mum, I... after last night I went to Marley's and just stayed there, okay?" James sighed.

"You mean you were in my house all night?" Draco demanded.

"Dad, please don't go into overprotective mode right now, okay?" Marley groaned.

"Marley, just -" Draco started.

"No. Stop." Marley said abruptly, grabbing James's hand and pulling him in the direction of the staircase.

James smirked at the girl in front of him. He decided to follow her lead and ignore the shouting voices of his Mother and her Father.

**. . .**

"I don't believe this." Ginny sighed.

"Gin, just... let them have their fun, okay? We can deal with it later." Harry said.

"No! I mean -" Ginny started, stopping abruptly.

Draco was just as enraged as Ginny was, but he still realized that the kids were in the room - just as he was sure she had. Ginny dismissed them all, telling them to go play in their rooms - minus Teddy. Once they were clear, Draco decided to start in.

"He can't just _spend_ the night with Marley without us knowing!" Draco shouted.

"Draco, please. They were just sleeping." Hermione sighed.

"What? You _knew_ about this?" Draco asked.

"No, I didn't. But I do know my daughter, and I know she's not like that." Hermione said, crossing her arms over her chest and staring at them.

"They're not kids anymore, Hermione." Ginny added.

"I _know_ that, Ginny. But that doesn't mean that they're -"

"Hermione, _think _about me and you at their age, okay?"

Draco's mind was thrown back to his first time with Hermione in the Room of Requirement. He hated thinking that Marley was old enough for _that_ now. He wanted to keep her as young as possible for as long as possible.

"Draco, would you please relax?" Hermione sighed. "We can worry about that _later_. We're here for a reason, remember?"

And then Draco did remember. Marley and James were really not at the top of his list of worries at the moment. He looked at Molly and Arthur. Neither had spoken since arriving and Molly had had tears in her eyes the entire time.

"Mum... what's going on?" Ginny said, her tone much softer than before.

Draco reached to Hermione and grabbed her hand, giving it a tight squeeze. He took a sideways glance at her, finding her expression entirely blank. He knew that she was trying to remain emotionless, if only to prepare herself for whatever Molly was about to say.

"He showed up last night and begged me to let him in. I... I didn't know how to say no. I hadn't seen him in so long - and I haven't forgotten what he's done. I'll never forget that." Molly started.

Draco looked at Hermione again who was gripping his hand tightly. He slid closer to her, wrapping his other arm around her body.

"But what does he _want_?" Draco asked.

"He... he has kids. Two of them. And the mother of them - well, she just died and he doesn't know how to raise them on his own. He said he needs help." Molly continued.

That had been about the last thing Draco was expecting.


	9. The Past Always Catches Up

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter Nine: The Past Always Catches Up**

"Kids?" Hermione whispered in disbelief.

Ron had _kids?_ He was actually a Father?

She couldn't believe it. Then again, she didn't know him anymore. She only knew him as the sweet man she had grown up with, and the sick psychopath who had taken her daughter.

"Yes. And... he _brought_ them with him, so I couldn't - I couldn't send him away. One's a boy who's nine, and the other is just a three year old girl. I couldn't let them face the consequences of what their father had done." Molly whispered.

"What the fuck?" Teddy said.

"Teddy, please." Ginny said with a tearful sigh.

"No, Ginny. This is ridiculous. This is the guy who messed up Meredith - who should be here, by the way - and we're just letting him into our lives?" Teddy shouted.

Hermione thought of her daughter. She had no idea what was going on. She was just sitting at home.

Were they supposed to tell her? And if so, _how_ would they ever do that?

"He has two kids, Ted." Arthur said, compassion filling his voice.

Hermione looked at Harry who was already looking at her. His jaw was clenched and Hermione saw that he was fighting back tears - something he didn't do often. She knew that this was hardest for him - after her. She knew that Harry loved all of her kids, but he held a special spot in his heart for Meredith.

"Connor and Rose." Arthur said.

Hermione shook her head. "Stop. I-I can't deal with this."

Hermione dropped Draco's hand and stood up, turning away from them and crossing her arms before walking quickly into the kitchen. She heard footsteps behind her, expecting it to be Draco.

When she turned around, she wasn't all too surprised to find Harry.

"This is ridiculous." Hermione whispered bitterly.

"I know." Harry said.

"It's been sixteen years since we've seen him and-and now he just _shows_ up? What the hell is that?"

Harry pulled Hermione to him, holding her close in a hug. She forced herself to focus on her breathing as he held her. She would _not_ fall apart - not now. Not yet.

"I know that what he did... it wasn't him. It was the tumour. But, I can't ever forgive him for it." Hermione whispered, pulling back slightly to look at Harry.

"I know." he repeated.

Hermione rested her head on his shoulder, feeling tears finally come into her eyes.

"Hermione."

She looked up, finding Molly standing at the entrance to her room. Harry let her go, stepping back and wiping her eyes.

"I know that this doesn't make sense to you, but... he's my son." Molly whispered.

Hermione bit her lip, feeling herself shake. She crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't want to understand Molly, and her reasons for allowing Ron into her home, but she couldn't deny that she did.

"Imagine if it were your kids, Hermione. I know you and you're always a Mum first. And that's what I am, too." Molly said, walking to Hermione and touching her cheek softly.

"So... is he back in our lives again?" Hermione whispered tearfully.

"No. He's back in _my_ life for now. Until he's back on his feet. Then we'll see where things go from there. The children - Connor and Rose - they're just so incredibly sweet."

Hermione just nodded. She didn't know what else to do. She watched Draco, Ginny, Teddy and Arthur come up behind Molly. Teddy walked right past Molly to her.

"Aunt Hermione, you can't keep this from Meredith. She's got a right to know." Teddy said.

Hermione knew that he was right, but that didn't mean that Hermione wanted to protect her daughter as much as she could.

**. . .**

"What do you think's going on out there?" Marley whispered.

"No idea. Probably got something to do with Ron." James said with a shrug.

Marley lifted her head from her spot on James's chest to look at him. Since escaping the wrath of their parents, Marley and James had just been lying in James's bed, hardly paying attention to the film in front of them. Marley just couldn't focus.

He pressed his lips gently to her forehead before smoothing back her hair softly.

"Stop worrying, M&M." he whispered.

"I can't. I just know that it's something bad and it's going to be bad for Meredith." Marley admitted.

James sighed and nodded at her, all the while staring at her intensely.

"What?" she asked softly.

He pressed his lips to hers, kissing her deeply. Marley moved into the kiss automatically, wondering why they hadn't bee doing this all along. How had it taken them so long?

"Oh! I completely forgot to tell you something last night." Marley said, instantly remembering her conversation with her mother.

James laughed at her outburst and nodded. "What is it?"

"My Mum had a thing with your Dad."

Marley almost laughed at James's expression - a slight mix between confusion and horror.

"_What?_ When?" he asked, sitting up and pulling Marley along with him.

"I think when Meredith was a baby."

"Okay, that's... I don't even know what to do with that.

"I know. I couldn't process it."

"How old would they have been?"

Marley considered this. "Not much older than us. I think my Mum had Meredith when she was 19."

"That's so weird." James said, shaking his head.

"I know right."

And then they were quiet. Marley still wasn't focusing on the film in front of them. She could only focus on James. They were still sitting, but his arm was holding her close.

"Marley?" he whispered suddenly.

"Yeah?" she answered.

"Does this... does this mean that you don't like Colin Finnigan?" he asked.

Marley thought back to the fight they'd had on Christmas Eve and let a small smile come across her face. She shook her head as she gently touched his cheek.

"James, don't be an idiot." she whispered, pressing her lips back to his.

**. . .**

Meredith sat at her kitchen table, stirring her coffee absentmindedly. She heard Jeremy sigh and she looked up at him, finding him staring at her.

"What?" she groaned.

"Mum's really worried about you." Jeremy said.

Meredith looked down. She didn't want to have this conversation - especially with her twelve year old brother who was much too smart for his own good.

"Well, she shouldn't be. I'm fine." Meredith mumbled.

"Mer, come on." Jeremy sighed, causing her to look back up. "Don't pull that, okay? Mum knows you're not fine, _I_ know you're not fine. You don't have to talk to me about it obviously, but... talk to Mum, okay?"

Meredith bit her lip, getting up from her seat and walking over to Jeremy. He looked up at her with wide eyes.

"At least consider it." Jeremy said.

Meredith nodded, staring down at him. She kissed his forehead before walking out of the room and wishing that she could be as smart as her younger brother. As she made her way into the living room, she caught sight of the familiar green flames. She groaned loudly, knowing that it would be Leo before she even saw him.

"Hey." he said, approaching her cautiously.

"Leo. You're stalking me." she sighed, sitting down on the couch.

He sat down next to her with an extremely noticeable amount of space between them for which Meredith was immediately glad.

"Look, I realize that I said I'd talk about it last night - and I guess I will - but I really didn't mean first thing this morning." Meredith said.

"Mer, I've had no one to talk to this about. And... I don't know, I _have_ to talk about it to get past it. I have to talk about Ava." he said quietly.

"Don't!" Meredith screamed.

She felt her breathing instantly increase at the mention of Ava's name. She knew that she couldn't deal with it. She didn't want to deal with it.

"Meredith..." he whispered, moving closer to her on the couch.

She turned her head away from him, feeling her eyes burn. She had gone so long without hearing Ava's name that she had almost convinced herself that hearing it again wouldn't hurt as much.

She was wrong.

"Leo, please." she begged.

She felt him grab her hand and she tried to move away. He just held on tighter. She finally looked back up at him as the tears fell from her eyes.

"You can't run from this, Mer." he whispered.

She heard him start to get choked up and she knew that he was hurting just as much as her. It wasn't fair of her to shut him out entirely. She decided to take a chance and move closer to him. He suddenly took her in his arms and she rested her head on his shoulder, allowing herself to cry.

"I miss you." he whispered.

That just made her cry even harder.

**. . .**

James opened his eyes to a banging on his door. He was about to move to sit up before he remembered that Marley was lying on his chest - asleep, just as he had been.

"James!"

He sighed, hearing his Mother's yells. He didn't understand why she was suddenly overreacting about his behaviour with Marley. It really wasn't anything new. Well - the kissing was, but Ginny didn't know about that.

James felt Marley move on his chest and he sat up, bringing her with him. He looked into her eyes, realizing that she had been asleep for probably about as long as he had.

"Is that your Mum?" Marley yawned.

James nodded, pulling Marley close to him. "What, Mum?"

The door opened to reveal a red-eyed and very frazzled looking Ginny. James suddenly knew that whatever they had been discussing downstairs was really serious. He saw his father behind her with a tired expression on his face.

"Marley, you need to leave." Ginny snapped.

"Wh-what?" Marley asked.

"Ginny, just let the kids -" Harry started.

"No, Harry! I want time with my family right now and Marley, you aren't actually a part of that." Ginny shouted.

James was suddenly furious. He knew how much Marley loved his Mum. He knew that she treated them like an Aunt and Uncle, just as he did with her parents. He looked at Marley's expression, knowing that her blank mask was just a cover for her hurt interior.

"Ginny." Harry said, his voice much louder.

"Shut _up_, Harry. I want to talk to my son." Ginny said.

"Mum, there is a much nicer way to ask Marley to leave. And if you're going to talk to her like that, than I'm not staying." James said.

"James Sirius Potter, you will do what I say." Ginny yelled.

"Mum, _no_. Marley is my family, too. And you do not get to speak to her like that." James said.

"Harry, would you control your son?" Ginny asked.

"Ginny, I just - I don't -" Harry stammered.

He knew his Dad was just as confused as he was. He could tell by his voice and expression - their characteristics were almost the same. James looked at Marley. Her lip was quivering. He just shook his head, standing up from the bed and pulling Marley with him. He wrapped an arm around her, directing her towards the door.

"Come on." he whispered.

"James, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Ginny yelled.

James moved past his parents, heading for the stairs with Marley at his side.

"James, you don't have to - I can leave. It's fine." Marley whispered.

He paused halfway down the stairs, turning to her and touching her cheek gently.

"No." he whispered, pressing his lips to her forehead. "This was supposed to be _our_ day, M&M. I'm not going to let them ruin it for us, okay?"

Marley nodded slowly at him. He pulled her down the stairs, heading quickly to the fireplace. He heard his parents behind him, his father trying to reason with his mother. He heard his grandparents speaking with Teddy and Marley's parents in the kitchen, but he didn't want to get anywhere near there.

"Ginny, why are you doing this?" he heard his dad mutter.

"Because, Harry. Because I just _am_, alright?" Ginny screamed.

James stepped into the fireplace, pulling Marley with him ready to get the hell out of there.

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone for reading! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! xx


	10. Problems

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**Author's Note:** Hi everyone! Thank you for all the reviews I've gotten! They mean everything to me. Now, on that note, I have gotten some mixed reviews and some are from guests so I can't PM them back. So, I'd just like to take a second to clear some things up.

_Yes_, this is the same author who wrote _Gone_. This is sophiegranger57. It's me. Things are different in this story than they were in _Gone_, because it is sixteen years later. People change by things that have happened in their lifetime, I know I certainly have. The reasons for the characters acting like they are will all be revealed, I promise - even Ginny will have her reasons.

Thank you for reading though! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! xx

**Chapter Ten: Problems**

"Meredith?"

Meredith lifted her head from Leo's shoulder and wiped her tear filled eyes. She found Marley and James standing just outside the fireplace, their hands intertwined as they looked at her in shock and concern.

"Are you okay?" Marley asked instantly, the two making their way over to Meredith and Leo.

She looked at Leo, who dropped his arms from around her and moved a few inches away. She wiped her eyes again before looking up at Marley and James. Marley was staring right at her, whereas James was watching Leo with hesitance.

"James Potter, right?" Leo said, standing up and sticking out his hand.

"Yeah..." James muttered, reluctantly shaking Leo's hand.

"I'm Leo Greengrass. Friend of Meredith's from Hogwarts." Leo introduced.

Meredith watched as James and Marley exchanged a look before Marley looked right back at her.

"Marley, can you lot go upstairs or something? I'm sorry, but... I've got to speak with Leo right now." Meredith whispered.

"Yeah, of course... are you sure?" Marley asked.

"I'm sure." Meredith said, even though she definitely wasn't.

Marley nodded and Meredith watched as James wrapped his arm around her younger sister's shoulder. Instantly, Meredith had a hint of a smile on her face. She knew that something had changed between them.

"Do you mean that?" Leo asked once the two had left. "Are you going to speak with me?"

Meredith looked at him, clasping her hands tightly together to stop herself from reaching out and touching Leo. She was realizing that she missed him much more than she had let herself believe, if that was even possible.

"We... we can speak, just... just not here. My family could come back at any minute and they don't know about Ava, okay?" Meredith whispered hurriedly.

"Are you going to tell them?" he asked.

"I don't know."

**. . .**

Hermione stepped out of the Floo with Lyra in her arms to find Meredith in tears speaking quietly with a man she had never seen before. She looked at Draco, who placed Scorpius down on the ground. His eyes were narrowed. She instantly knew it was Leo Greengrass.

"Mum, Dad." Meredith whispered, standing up from the couch abruptly.

"Leo." Draco said. "What's going on here?"

"Dad, nothing. Leo just - he just stopped by. We're going out, okay? Jer's upstairs." Meredith said, grabbing Leo's hand and pulling him to his feet.

Hermione wasn't sure what to say. She looked at her eldest and knew just how much she was hurting. The tears were freely flowing from her eyes, even though she was acting like they weren't. That was just the type of person Meredith was - strong even in times of trouble.

"See you later." Meredith said, bending over and grabbing her wand from the coffee table.

"Wait, Meredith -" Hermione said, finally finding her voice.

But, before she could say anything more, Meredith and Leo had Apparated away. She placed Lyra down on the ground who ran off after her twin, leaving Hermione and Draco alone. She turned to him, finding his expression the same.

"She was crying." Draco said. "What the hell did he do to her?"

"Draco, we don't know that he's done anything." Hermione said, sitting down on the couch and rubbing her temples.

"But, she was crying, Hermione! I haven't seen her cry in a long time." Draco sighed, sitting down next to her.

"I know, but... there's nothing we can do about that right now. We need to figure out how we're going to tell her about Ron." Hermione said.

Draco stared at her and she felt her shoulders droop. It was hardly the afternoon and she was already completely exhausted.

"Ginny's losing it." Hermione mumbled. "Harry doesn't know what to do. _I_ have no idea how to _do_ this!"

"Hey, angel. Come here." Draco whispered, holding out his arms.

Hermione crawled into his embrace, resting herself against his chest. She closed her eyes, feeling his hand brush her hair.

"We'll figure this all out, okay? We'll figure everything out." he soothed.

**. . .**

But later that night, Draco still had no idea what to do.

Hermione had gone quiet, and he hadn't had any idea what to say. He had made the family dinner, a quiet affair. Marley and James had joined them, the twins and Jeremy, but quickly retreated back to Marley's room soon after.

He didn't even have the energy to be angry about James spending the night in his house. He was too worried about everything else.

"Hermione?" he asked from his spot next to her in bed.

"Yeah?" she whispered, turning onto her side to look at him.

He reached forward and brushed a strand of her hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ear. Even though she had aged in the years they had been together, Draco knew that she was just every bit as beautiful as when they had first gotten together. He leaned closer, pulling Hermione into his arms and kissing her forehead.

"What is it?" she murmured, looking up into his eyes.

"I'm worried about Meredith. And Marley, actually." he admitted.

He heard Hermione sigh, but when he looked into her eyes, he knew that she was worried as well.

"Marley's growing up, Draco. We have to let her make her own decisions." Hermione said softly.

"I know, but... you see how intense the connection between her and James is, right? I know you do. It's too fast and too soon." Draco said.

"We don't even know if they're together yet." Hermione observed with a sigh.

"If they aren't, it'll be any day now." Draco said.

"Is it bad having that strong of a connection with someone? I mean, _we_ had that strong of a connection when we were there age, you know." Hermione said.

Draco sat up, pulling Hermione with him and turning on the lampshade next to their bed.

"I know. And we had a kid pretty early, Hermione." Draco mumbled, letting his fear finally out of his mouth.

"Oh God, Draco. Don't - don't even think about that. Marley's _much_ smarter than that. And, may I remind you that Meredith happened when we were terrified that we were going to die any second and therefore didn't cast the protection charm?" Hermione groaned.

Draco knew she had a point. His face turned crimson and he looked away from her. He knew she was right. She was always right.

"We've got to let her live her life." Hermione whispered, touching his face.

Draco nodded. "Meredith's never spoken to us about any boys before. I mean, has she?"

"She's mentioned a few boys here and there over the years, but nothing serious. She never mentioned Leo." Hermione said.

He took in Hermione's expression, realizing that she was just as worried as he was.

"You want to tell her about Ron tomorrow, don't you?" Draco sighed, knowing his wife.

"Yeah, I do. She'll be angry if we don't tell her soon and she finds out some other way. It's only fair." Hermione whispered.

Draco nodded, pulling Hermione back down in bed with him and kissing her deeply.

**. . .**

"Are you sure you shouldn't be going home?" Marley whispered.

James shook his head, remaining silent. Marley sighed, lifting her head off of his chest and looking at him. She knew that what had happened with his Mother was bothering him much more than he was letting on - hence the silence.

"Marley, I'm really worried that my parents are going to split up." James admitted, his voice coming out in harsh whispers. "I can't just stay at home and watch it happen. I know we're only home for two weeks, but... I just can't."

She recognized true fear in his eyes and she moved over on the bed, gesturing towards her chest.

"What are you doing?" he muttered.

"Come on. Lay your head on me for once." she whispered.

From the darkness of the room, Marley could just see the outline of his face and his bright green eyes. He nodded slowly, moving over and doing as she said. She tightened her arms around him protectively.

"You can stay here for as long as you like, you know." Marley whispered.

"I know. Well, at least until either my Mum yanks me home by my hair, or your Dad chops my head off." James sighed.

"Well, if he does _that_ then you can sleep in the guest room - at least until he falls asleep." Marley said.

She felt James tighten his grip around her. He lifted his head, pulling her lips to his for a moment before returning to lie down.

"Sweet dreams, M&M."

"Sweet dreams."

**. . .**

Hermione opened her eyes at the sound of a crash from downstairs. She sat up instantly, feeling Draco do the same. She looked around, fear crashing into her heart.

Instantly, her first thought was that it was Ron.

Except, she knew that the wards should keep him out. They should keep _everyone_ out except for those allowed in.

"Stay here." Draco whispered, grabbing his wand and stepping out of bed.

"Yeah, like hell I'm going to do that." Hermione said back, grabbing her own wand and hopping in front of him.

She heard him groan from behind her. It was always the same battle between the two in regards to protection. Draco always wanted to protect her - and then she had to remind him that she played a major role in the War. It would take a lot to get her to back down from a fight.

When they got to the bottom of the stairs, Hermione sighed in relief and rolled her eyes with a groan.

"For the love of Merlin, Potter." Draco grumbled.

Harry was sitting on the coffee table in front of them, a flask in his hand. Hermione shook her head, turning back to look at Draco.

"I've got this, okay?" she whispered. "Go back to bed."

"Yeah, okay." he said, kissing her lips quickly and then her forehead.

As good of friends as Draco and Harry were, it was still always Hermione who knew him best. And Hermione knew that if Harry stumbled into her house in the middle of the night - clearly drunk and still drinking - he was hurting.

"Harry, what are you doing here?" Hermione said, casting the lights on with her wand and making her way over to him.

"I'm just here." he said, smiling at her.

She shook her head. "No, Harry. You don't just show up like this in the middle of the night. Not anymore."

Harry and Ginny had a history of problems that usually ended up with Ginny losing her temper and kicking Harry out of the house for the night. It happened a lot when their kids were young, Ginny not being able to deal with the stress. They loved each other with all their hearts, but Hermione knew that they still fought a lot.

"Ginny told me to leave." he said, grabbing Hermione's hand as she yanked him off of the table and over to the couch.

"What happened?" she asked.

"She's... she's _angry_, Hermione. She's angry about everything." Harry said, his words slurring together. He tried to reach for his flask, but Hermione grabbed it before he could.

"I'm sure she didn't mean it, Harry. You know she never does." Hermione said.

"She was yelling at the kids, Hermione! James and Marley - she was yelling at them." Harry said, almost yelling himself.

"Wait - she was yelling at _my_ daughter?" Hermione said, anger flaring in her voice.

"I don't know why." he sighed. "I know she's conflicted about Ron, Hermione. But... she shouldn't kick me _out_! We're grown ups. We're past this."

Hermione didn't know what to say. She really didn't. She knew that Harry was conflicted as well, but he would never say. He loved Meredith too much to ever forgive Ron.

"Why are you drunk?" Hermione decided to ask.

"Because Ron's back and I don't want to deal with it." he said quickly.

Hermione opened her mouth to respond, but stopped. She watched Harry's eyes begin to droop and he yawned sloppily. She sighed, pulling him to her and allowing him to rest his head against her chest. He laid down, wrapping his arms around her as Hermione rested her own head against the side of the couch, summoning a blanket over for them.

She heard Harry let out a choked sob and her heart broke a little further.


	11. Not in the Mood

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter Eleven: Not in the Mood**

Meredith smelled the coffee.

She sat up immediately, opening her eyes too quickly for them to properly adjust to the brightness around her. She was on an uncomfortable mattress and knew that she wasn't at home.

"Morning." a familiar voice said.

She turned her head, finding Leo sitting on the windowsill next to the bed, holding out a mug of coffee.

"What?" she murmured, feeling her head immediately begin to pound.

"Don't worry. There's hangover cure potion mixed in there." Leo said.

"Thanks." she said hesitantly, taking it and taking a long sip.

She looked around, sitting up against the pillows of the bed. Meredith recognized the shabby room - it was the Leaky Cauldron. Except, she wasn't exactly sure _why_ she was there. In a room with one bed. With Leo.

She found herself very happy that she was still wearing clothes.

"Don't worry, Mer. I slept on the floor." Leo sighed.

She nodded, still confused as to _why_ she was there, but glad that nothing had happened between them. They really didn't need their relationship to be anymore complicated than it already was.

"What - uh - what happened?" she asked hesitantly.

Leo sighed, taking a sip from his own mug of coffee. She stared at him, knowing that his mug held way too much sugar. She remembered the taste of it from waking up with him all those mornings, tasting the coffee on his lips.

"Well, we got here - ready to finally talk - when you just started downing drinks like a maniac. After two, you refused to talk anymore. So, we just drank. Well - I didn't really drink. And I figured you didn't want to go home, so I got you a room here and just... stayed to keep an eye on you." Leo explained.

Meredith blushed, completely embarrassed. Now that he had prompted her, she _did_ remember that. She actually had been going to talk to him about Ava and what had happened, but... then she hadn't been able to do it.

"Mer..." Leo whispered.

She looked up at him, finding his eyes suddenly shining. She held her breath, unsure of what was going to happen next. All she knew was that one look at Leo like that and she was ready to hold him and never let him go ever again.

"I've missed you so much. I haven't - I haven't been able to _do_ this on my own. I don't know how to handle it." Leo admitted, his voice breaking.

Meredith felt her own eyes well up in tears and she sniffled immediately. "It's been hard."

"I know it's been hard. I lost... I lost both of you." Leo said, getting off the windowsill and sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Well, so did I, Leo!" she yelled, suddenly angry - angry at everything.

It happened like that. Meredith would get sudden bursts of anger at everything and everyone - no matter who it was.

"_You_ pushed _me_ away, Meredith! Not the other way around!" Leo yelled back.

"I couldn't do it, okay? I couldn't _see_ you everyday and be reminded of... of..." Meredith said, her words trailing off as she finally broke down into tears.

"You can't even say her name." Leo whispered.

She shakily moved her arm, trying to place the mug of coffee down on the bedside table, but she missed, letting it smash to the floor.

"Damn it!" she screamed.

She looked at Leo, who's tears were silent as they ran down his face. He placed his own mug down and looked down at the mess on the floor.

"Are you trying to pretend like she never existed?" he whispered, scooting closer to her.

Meredith let out another sob, closing her eyes. She had never wanted this. She had never planned for her life to turn out this way.

"I... I haven't meant to - I just - I thought it might be easier." she sputtered.

"Is it?" Leo asked.

"No." she choked out immediately.

"You still blame yourself."

She nodded, feeling Leo getting closer and closer to her, but afraid to open her eyes. She was shaking the entire bed with the sobs that were wracking her body.

"Don't you?" she gasped.

"Every day."

Meredith would always blame herself. She knew that technically it wasn't her fault - it wasn't Leo's fault. It wasn't anybody's fault. It had just _happened. _But that didn't matter to Meredith. She would blame herself for the rest of her life.

Ava.

She had been so innocent, so beautiful, so sweet.

"My... my sweet baby girl..." Meredith cried out, throwing herself into Leo's arms and clasping on for dear life

Ava.

Her daughter.

Her daughter who was dead.

**. . .**

James knew that Marley was already awake. He could feel her fingers running through his hair. He felt his face flush pink as he realized that dampness on her shirt from his tears.

He didn't like crying - not around people, not by himself, not at all. But yet, last night he had completely broken down. He had let the fear that his parents were splitting up get to him. He had let the truth come out of his mouth that he had been keeping inside for so long.

He had let Marley in.

James wrapped his arms around her waist and heard her chuckle lightly. He was almost too embarrassed with himself to sit up and look at her. He knew that his eyes were probably red and puffy.

Yet, he looked up anyways, finding Marley smiling at him softly.

"Hi sleepy." she whispered.

"Morning." he muttered.

He wondered if she was going to mention it - mention his breakdown. He had cried deep into the night, clutching her close for dear life.

"I don't know about you, but I need some coffee." Marley said after a minute.

He smiled at her. She knew exactly when and when not to say things. It was one of the things he loved most about her.

Love.

He didn't care that they had only gotten together - if they could even call it that - yesterday, but he knew that he loved her. He had always known that.

She was the love of his life.

"Coffee sounds good." he said.

The two untangled themselves from each other and got out of bed. When Marley reached the door first, he reached for her hand, pulling her back to him.

"What?" she asked.

He pushed her up against the wall, kissing her passionately - as passionately as he could without getting _too_ into it. He didn't want to take her any further than she was ready, even though he was ready for everything with her.

When he pulled away, he found her staring at him with widened eyes as they panted for breath.

"Come on, then. Coffee." James said with a wink.

"Yeah, give me a minute to recover." she said.

He chuckled, kissing her forehead and pulling her out the door with him. When they got to the bottom of the stairs, they both stopped and stared at the scene in front of them.

Hermione was lying on the couch with his Father - his head resting on her chest and their arms wrapped around each other, not unlike him and Marley had been.

He looked at Marley who looked as shocked as he was. Marley's face was red and she just grabbed his hand and pulled him into the kitchen.

**. . .**

Marley didn't know what to think about her mother and Harry lying on the couch.

She just prayed that her siblings hadn't seen it.

And her father.

When she got into the kitchen, she stopped short at the sight of her father, sipping calmly from a mug of coffee. She felt James clutch her hand tighter and she gave it a squeeze back.

"Morning, Dad." Marley said, walking over to the coffeemaker and pouring her and James each a cup.

Draco just nodded at them and Marley tossed a look at James, who looked extremely hesitant to even be in the kitchen.

"Alright, I'll say it. What's the deal with Mum and Uncle Harry?" Marley sighed, taking a seat at the kitchen table.

Draco cleared his throat and finally looked at her. "Honestly, I don't know. He showed up really late last night and... yeah. I guess that's what happened."

Marley looked at James who was sitting in the seat next to her. Finding his eyes dark, she reached under the table and grabbed his hand again, squeezing it tightly.

"Him and Mum were probably fighting." James offered darkly.

"Yeah, I know. I think that's what it was..." Draco said, sitting down across from Marley.

Looking at her dad, she knew that he was hiding something from them.

"Dad, what is it?" Marley asked, not wanting to waste any time. "What were you lot talking about yesterday?"

Draco shook his head. "I... I think we need to talk to your sister before we talk to you, Marley."

Marley looked at James, who had put the pieces together just as she had.

"It's about Ron, isn't it?" Marley said.

Draco's head snapped to her, his eyes widened. She had almost forgotten that he didn't know that _she_ knew who Ron was.

"What did you just say?" Draco asked.

"It's about Ron. The man who kidnapped Meredith. Aunt Ginny's brother and Mum and Uncle Harry's old friend. I'm right, aren't I?" Marley said.

Draco stood up from the seat and leaned back against the counter, eerily silent.

"Do _not_ mention a word to your sister, alright?" Draco muttered darkly.

"Dad, I'm not going to. Just... what happened?" Marley asked.

"Just leave things be, Marley." Draco said.

**. . .**

Hermione opened her eyes at the sound of voices from the other room. She was about to sit up when she remembered that Harry was still leaning against her - and judging from the sounds of his breathing, he was still asleep.

"Harry." she whispered, wanting to get up before any of her kids - or Draco for that matter - saw her.

But, she realized that whoever was in the kitchen had definitely seen her and Harry.

"Harry, wake up." she whispered, gently touching his shoulder.

He groaned into her chest before sitting up slightly and leaning on her. She took in the sight of his reddened eyes, the hangover and evidence of tears clear on his face.

"Sit up, okay? Slowly." she said.

He did as she said so, allowing her to sit up as well. She looked at him apprehensively, trying to assess his mood before he spoke. She knew it wasn't good.

"Fuck." he muttered, putting his face into his hands.

"Yeah." she whispered.

She reached to him and placed a comforting hand on his back, rubbing it in small circles.

"Morning, Mum." Marley said, her voice loud.

Hermione looked up at the same time as Harry, finding her daughter, James and Draco standing at the entrance to the room.

"Dad, what's going on?" James said. "Why has Mum gone mental?"

Hermione then remembered that Ginny had been yelling at Marley - for apparently no reason whatsoever.

"She hasn't gone mental, James. She's just a bit stressed out, is all." Harry sighed.

"Yeah, a bit stressed out my arse, Dad. She's losing it." James said with a bitter laugh. "You saw her yesterday. My guess is she kicked you out for the night - _again_."

Hermione looked at Harry who was clearly struggling with what to say to his son. She looked at Marley who was just watching her with her lips pursed. She looked at Draco who's expression was entirely blank.

_Never_ a good sign.

"Mum, Dad won't tell me what's going on. With Ron." Marley said.

Hermione's face fell pale at the mention of Ron. She had no idea that Marley even knew who Ron was - and now she wasn't sure how much her daughter knew.

"Where's your sister?" Hermione decided to ask. "Where's Meredith?"

"I don't bloody know. She's _your_ kid." Marley snapped.

"Don't speak to your mother like that, Marley." Draco said.

"Fuck _off_, Dad." Marley said.

"Marley Marie! You will _not_ speak to your Father that way, do you understand me?" Hermione yelled.

That quieted everybody down. Hermione hardly ever yelled at her children - she knew that was never the way to solve anything. Marley's eyes widened before narrowing again.

"Now, would you please go get your Uncle some coffee with a dash of Hangover Cure in it?" Hermione asked calmly.

Marley grabbed James's hand and headed in the direction of the kitchen, leaving the three adults alone.

"Nice sleep, Potter?" Draco snarled.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Draco, honestly."

She was so not in the mood.


	12. Ava Daphne Greengrass

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter Twelve: Ava Daphne Greengrass**

Ava Daphne Greengrass, 6 lbs 7 ounces, was born on February 11th, 2017.

It had been Meredith's last year at Hogwarts and she had given birth in the Hospital Wing with the school Mediwitch Mlle. Olsen, who had been there since Meredith's third year, taking care of her the whole time. Leo had never left her side, holding her hand tightly. Teddy and Victoire had Flooed into Mlle. Olsen's office and been present for the birth.

Being pregnant without anybody noticing had been hard. For starters, she couldn't leave her dormitory without casting a concealment charm on her stomach - to give off the illusion that she _wasn't_ huge, when in reality, she could feel her big stomach every second of every day.

Meredith remembered every detail of the night her daughter had been conceived. It had been in May of her Sixth Year, and she had found out about her pregnancy at the end of Term before heading home, getting Mlle. Olsen to cast the pregnancy detector charm on her before she had to leave.

It had been one of the most terrifying moments of her life.

At first, she had been _so_ ashamed of herself. That was why she had decided to conceal her pregnancy from almost everybody. It hadn't been the first time her and Leo had slept together. That had happened right before the Christmas Holidays of Sixth Year.

They had just simply forgotten the protection charm in the heat of the moment. It was a stupid, foolish mistake that they couldn't take back.

Meredith had wanted to reach out to her Mother _so_ many times during her pregnancy, but she had been terrified. She had been so worried that she would disappoint Hermione by having a child even younger than she had. She knew that Hermione had wanted Meredith to have everything - and that included _not_ being a teenage mother.

She had told Leo in a letter at the beginning of Summer Holidays that year - and he had Apparated to just outside her house almost an hour after she had sent it.

**. . .**

_"Meredith..." Leo whispered when she finally reached him._

_Meredith felt her eyes well up in tears at the sight of him. He was standing just beyond her property line, practically shaking. She knew that he was just as terrified as she was._

_"A-are you sure?" he whispered, his voice barely audible._

_She nodded, tears slipping down her cheeks. "I'm sure."_

_"Holy..." he mumbled, taking a step back from her._

_She pressed her hand to her mouth to stop a sob from escaping. She had known for three weeks now and it still hardly felt real. She could not believe it - yet she knew it was true._

_"Leo, I'm so scared." she admitted._

_And then he stepped back to her, pulling her into his arms. She rested her head on the familiar spot on his shoulder that she had called hers since the end of Fifth Year when they had first gotten together._

_"Have you told anyone?" he asked, pulling away only slightly and taking her face in his hands._

_"J-just Teddy." she mumbled._

_Leo smiled sadly at her, pressing his lips to her forehead._

_"You know I've never told my parents about you. How the hell am I supposed to tell them that I - that I'm - I'm pregnant?" she stammered._

_She had always wanted to tell her parents about Leo. She felt weird having a boyfriend without them knowing - but she also felt too weird to actually tell them. She liked having something and someone that was just hers in the middle of such a big family._

_"We'll figure it out, Mer. We'll figure it all out." he whispered._

_"We?" she squeaked out._

_"Of course, Meredith. What - you think I'd leave you?" he said, laughing lightly._

_She didn't like to admit it - but Meredith had been afraid out of her mind that Leo would leave her. His laughter stopped and she knew that he had seen the fear in her eyes._

_"I love you too much to ever leave you, Mer. You know that." he whispered, pulling her closer to him and pressing their foreheads together. "I'm going to be here for whatever you want to do. I'll be behind you."_

_She kissed him hard on the lips, her fear easing ever so slightly._

**. . .**

Meredith had worked out a deal with the Headmistress of the school, Professor Lancaster. Meredith had been made Head Girl, and even though Leo hadn't been made Head Boy, Professor Lancaster had granted them permission to live in the Heads' Dormitory for Seventh Year. They had been able to use the one room as their own, while being able to transform the other into a nursery.

It had been a perfect temporary home.

Meredith hadn't planned to get so far into her pregnancy without telling her parents. It wasn't that she was ashamed of her baby - after feeling her daughter kick for the first time she had known that she had never loved anything more. She had just been _so_ terrified.

When she had gone into labour, she had vowed to tell her parents the next time she saw them - which would be on Easter Holiday. She knew that they would be more than angry and shocked, but she didn't care. She knew that her mother would never kick her out of the house.

From the minute she had laid her eyes on Ava, she had been in love.

**. . .**

_"Congratulations, it's a girl!" Mlle. Olsen said, placing the tiny newborn into Meredith's tired arms._

_Meredith let out a loud sob of happiness as she cradled her baby close._

_"H-h-hi baby." she whispered. "I'm your Mummy."_

_She tore her eyes away from her daughter for only a second to look at Leo who was staring down at her, absolutely mesmerized._

_Leo caught her eyes and kissed her deeply on the mouth before they both turned to look back at their daughter. She had a sprinkling of dark hair - Leo's colour - on her head, and her eyes were squeezed shut as she cried softly._

_"She's beautiful, Meredith." Teddy whispered from her other side, kissing the top of Meredith's head._

_She looked up at Teddy and Victoire, finding tears in both of their eyes. Teddy wrapped his arm around Victoire who buried her face into Teddy's shoulder for a moment before looking up._

_"Does she have a name?" Victoire whispered._

_Meredith looked up at Leo who nodded at her. She knew what he was saying immediately. She had felt it the minute she had laid eyes on her daughter._

_"Ava. Ava Daphne Greengrass." Meredith whispered, pressing a light kiss on her baby's forehead._

_"Beautiful. I will write that on the birth certificate to send to the Ministry, okay?" Mlle. Olsen said._

_Meredith nodded, being unable to tear her eyes away from her baby any more. Suddenly, Ava was clean and wrapped in a pink blanket._

_"Thank you, Mlle. Olsen." Meredith whispered, knowing that the MediWitch had cleaned her daughter up._

_"Can I hold her, Mer?" Leo whispered._

_Meredith looked up at Leo and grinned. She gently shifted Ava into his arms and watched as his eyes widened._

_"Hi, Ava." he whispered, sitting down on the edge of the bed next to Meredith._

_Ava opened her eyes, revealing bright brown eyes - eyes like Meredith's own._

_"She's so beautiful." Meredith gushed._

_"Just like her Mum." Leo whispered._

_Even though Meredith had never planned for this, she knew exactly that she was meant to be a Mother._

**. . .**

The three of them had lived in the Heads Dormitory for three months before it happened. It had been the most exhausting, yet most amazing three months of Meredith's life. She wouldn't trade them for the world. She had ended up making an excuse to stay at Hogwarts for the Easter holidays - she just hadn't been ready to bring Ava to her home.

May 17th, 2017 was when Meredith's world had changed entirely.

When Meredith and Leo were both at classes, house elves would watch Ava. It usually changed between three of the Hogwarts elves, with the primary one being Winky - an elf that she knew her mother had come across while in Hogwarts herself.

Meredith had come back from Potions class to relieve the elf and spend some time with her daughter while Leo was in another class to find devastation. She heard the frantic, squeaky shouting of the elf and the murmured incantations of Mlle. Olsen.

**. . .**

_Meredith ran instantly to the nursery, dropping everything but her wand on the floor of the dormitory. She stopped at the doorway, clutching her hand to her chest as she screamed._

_Esmeralda the House Elf was trembling next to the crib as Mlle. Olsen stood nearest, waving her wand frantically overtop. Meredith didn't understand what was happening._

_"Come on, Ava. Come on!" Mlle. Olsen screamed._

_Meredith was frozen, watching. She was certain neither had noticed her, even with her frantic screaming. Mlle. Olsen dropped her wand into the crib and began to pump Ava's chest with her fingers._

_CPR. Muggle resuscitation. She knew that Mlle. Olsen would not use that unless she had run out of other options._

_Meredith watched everything in a blur - Mlle. Olsen continuing to pump Ava's tiny chest while continuing to use her wand with her other hand. Esmeralda stood by the side, shaking uncontrollably until the MediWitch told her to leave and get assistance._

_She soon reappeared with Leo and Professor Lancaster, who instantly started helping Mlle. Olsen. Meredith still didn't know what was happening._

_What was wrong with her baby?_

_She stepped forward, reaching the side of the crib and she screamed even louder at the sight before her._

_Ava's usual rosy, pale skin was paler than anyone she had ever seen. There was almost a tinge of blue. Her eyes were closed and she wasn't moving. Meredith couldn't even see her chest rising and falling._

_"No, no, no, no, no!" Meredith screamed._

_She felt Leo come up beside her and she fell over into him. He was screaming just as loud as she was._

_"What's happening?" Leo thundered._

_When neither witch answered, Meredith felt herself scream again in agony. After a few more minutes, both Professor Lancaster and Mlle. Olsen stopped. Meredith noticed tears in both of their eyes._

_She didn't understand. Why were they stopping? Why weren't they saving her baby girl?_

_"Don't just stand there! Save her!" Meredith yelled._

_"Meredith, I'm sorry. There's nothing left to do. We've tried everything." Mlle. Olsen whispered, pressing a hand to her mouth._

_"No, no. You have to save her! You have to!" Meredith screamed._

_She reached into the crib, feeling Ava's motionless body and sobbing until her world was black._

**. . .**

Meredith had passed out after that and woken up in the Hospital Wing with a sobbing Leo at her side.

Mlle. Olsen, Esmeralda and Professor Lancaster had explained what had happened to Ava. Her lungs had collapsed - both of them. Apparently it had been a condition that went undetected at birth and all the further checkups. Her lungs had been underdeveloped for her age of three months and therefore didn't supply her with enough oxygen. Ava's body had worked overtime to try and save itself, sending magical blood into her veins, summoning her magic much earlier than any child should have. It had been too much for her.

It had been a flux. It was something that was incredibly rare and only occurred in less than 2% of magical children.

Meredith didn't understand why her daughter had to be part of the 2%.

After that, Meredith hadn't attended any classes for the rest of the month. She had stayed in bed, either sobbing uncontrollably or remaining completely silent. Leo had stayed by her side, doing everything for her. He had been struggling just as much as she, yet he had been able to remain strong.

He had helped her eat, drink and shower in the first few days.

He had held her while she cried.

Meredith hadn't been able to look at him after that - not really. She blamed herself for not being there when her daughter needed her. Maybe if she had been watching Ava, they would have gotten to her in time.

When exams were over and her family was coming up for graduation, she knew that she wouldn't be able to tell anyone. Not then - when the wounds were so fresh. She wasn't even sure how to _be_ around Leo anymore.

**. . .**

_Meredith smoothed down her Hogwarts graduation gown before looking up at Leo. He had the same expression that he had had since May 17th - tired, stunned and defeated._

_Meredith knew she looked the same way._

_"Leo." she called out, knowing what she had to do._

_He looked up at her, his eyes watering. She knew that he already knew what was coming._

_"Don't do it, Mer. Don't." he begged, walking over to her from the other side of their bed._

_"I'm sorry." she whispered._

_"Please, Meredith. This isn't the way to do this. This isn't the way to deal with things." he said, grabbing ahold of her hands._

_Meredith shook her head, tears forming in her eyes. She knew that if her heart weren't already gone, it would be breaking. But she was numb. She couldn't do anything anymore. She couldn't feel anything besides numbness or pain._

_"I'm going to Europe with Teddy and Victoire in a few weeks. We're going to travel for a while." she said, pulling her hands away._

_"How long is a while?" he asked._

_"I don't know. However long we want to." she shrugged._

_"I'll come with you."_

_"No."_

_"Why not?"_

_"Because... because it's too hard."_

_"Mer..."_

_She looked back up at him, stepping closer and pressing her lips to his, taking in one last kiss. The last kiss they would ever share. She knew that he could feel it too. He wrapped his arms around her, gripping her blonde hair in his one hand while the other clasped at her waist._

_"I love you." he whispered when they pulled away._

_She just nodded, crying freely now. She knew that a part of her wanted to stay with him. But she couldn't. Not when every time she looked at him she saw Ava._

_"When you're ready... come back to me." Leo whispered._

_"Leo, you don't have to wait for me. Live your life." she whispered, stepping away from him._

_"Meredith, our daughter is dead. I can't live my life anymore." he said bitterly._

_She closed her eyes in pain for a minute before opening them and finding him sitting down on the bed with his head in his hands._

_"Just... don't wait for me." she repeated._

_"You're the love of my life. I'm going to wait forever."_

**. . .**

Graduation had been the last time she had seen him until he had shown up in her kitchen. He had sent her letters - which she had all ignored. She had drawn out her trip in Europe, staying there even when Victoire and Teddy had returned to England for weeks at a time.

When she had come home last Christmas, she had visited her Aunt Ginny. Teddy had told her that she had suffered from a miscarriage before any of her children had been born - before he had even gone to live with him. It was then that Meredith had first spoken about Ava to anyone who hadn't already known. Ginny had held her as she cried.

As Meredith sat in Leo's arms, both of them sobbing again and again, she knew that she couldn't let him out of her life again.

Running from him had been a mistake.

Nobody understood like he did.

**Author's Note:** Please READ AND REVIEW! xx Thanks for reading!


	13. Carry Me Out

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter Thirteen: Carry Me Out**

Meredith looked up from her spot on Leo's shoulder, finding the tears still dripping from his eyes - just as they were from her own.

"I think about her every second of every day." Meredith admitted tearfully.

"So do I." he whispered back. "And you, Mer. Always you."

She wanted to tell him just how much she missed him. How much she still loved him. But she couldn't. She couldn't open up her mouth to get the words out.

"What did we do to deserve this?" Meredith whispered bitterly.

"I ask myself that everyday." he said.

Leo laid down, pulling Meredith with him. Hesitant at first, she decided to rest her head on his chest, letting him hold her close - just like he used to. She felt his lips brush the top of her head and she just held on tighter, letting her tears fall again.

**. . .**

Draco tried hard to not glare at Harry, but he couldn't help it. He hated seeing Harry like that with Hermione, even though he knew that he shouldn't be jealous. He couldn't control his jealousy, even after all these years.

He knew that Hermione loved him with all of her heart, there was no doubt of that in his mind. He just hated that Harry knew her in a way that he never would.

"Draco, would you _please_ stop looking so murderously at Harry?" Hermione sighed.

Draco blushed, looking back at Hermione. She stood up from her spot next to Harry on the couch and crossed the room, joining him on the love seat. She kissed his lips softly before slipping his hand in his.

That calmed him down a bit.

"Alright, what can we do, Harry?" Draco asked, sighing in resignation.

Harry just shook his head. "I don't know. Have you ever tried to reason with Ginny before?"

Draco widened his eyes and nodded. He had tried a few times to reason with Ginny over the years - all of which had ended in Ginny yelling.

It wasn't his favourite thing to do. He usually left it to Hermione.

"D'you want me to try?" Hermione offered.

Harry was quiet before his cheeks went red. "No."

"And why not?" Hermione questioned.

Hermione was usually the one that could actually get through to the red head. He looked at Harry curiously, realizing just why Harry was blushing.

"She... she brought _that_ up." Harry muttered.

"Seriously?" Hermione blurted. "Your fight was so bad that she brought up something that is literally from twenty years ago?"

Draco ground his teeth together as Hermione squeezed his hand. He knew that what Harry and Hermione had had was never anything real, but it still made him feel squeamish.

"That's how bad it was." Harry sighed. "That's how crazy this Ron thing is making her feel."

Hermione groaned loudly and Draco kissed her temple quickly before squeezing her hand back. He knew that she always got flustered and crazy about her relationship with Harry.

"Still... I've got to talk to her." Hermione sighed. "And Meredith. I've got to talk to Meredith."

Marley and James came back into the room with Harry's coffee, James putting it on the table in front of his father before standing hand in hand with Marley again. Draco had only been mildly surprised at the appearance of James in his kitchen that morning. He had been more controlled by the sight of Harry snuggling with his wife.

"Where is Meredith anyways?" Hermione asked. "I don't think she ever came back since leaving with Leo last night."

"Angel, I'm sure she's fine." Draco sighed, wrapping an arm around Hermione.

Now, he just needed to believe it himself.

**. . .**

"Can you guys give us a minute, please?" Harry said.

Marley looked up at James's father before looking at James. She noticed his jaw was clenched and she pulled him from the room without another word. She led him back to the room, closing the door behind them.

"James." she said softly.

He looked at her and she decided to just act on instinct. She pressed her lips to his, enveloping him in a deep kiss. She felt him pull her over to her bed and she went with him eagerly, resting herself gently on top of him as he ran his hands over her.

"God, Marley." he whispered, pulling away from her lips slowly and staring up into her eyes.

She rolled off of him, lying close side by side. She felt his fingers gently trace up and down her body before coming to rest on her hip.

"You're beautiful, you know that?" James whispered.

Marley's eyes widened slightly. She wasn't sure if James had ever said that to her before - and if he had, certainly not with that much meaning in his voice. It almost made her eyes well up in tears.

"I mean it, Marley. I don't know how we haven't been doing this until now." he whispered, pulling her against him and kissing her softly.

She shook her head as they pulled away. "Me neither."

Marley bit her lip, thinking everything over. She wanted everything with James - but she was too afraid to say it. Too afraid to tell him just how in love with him she was. It was way too soon for that. She knew that he had been with girls at school. He was way more experienced than her. Marley was almost certain that he wanted the same things she did - yet there was still that little nagging feel of doubt.

"What is it, M&M?" James whispered.

She sighed, knowing she'd be foolish to try and hide anything from him. "I just..."

"What?" he repeated, his voice just as soft.

"What are we, James?" she started slowly. "I mean... what do you want us to be?"

Marley felt herself relax as James smiled at her. He sat up, pulling her along with him and she let him easily wrap his arms around her.

"Marley... I want to be with you. More than anything, really." he whispered. "I've always wanted to be with you."

Before she could say anything, James kissed her quickly before getting off of the bed and walking over to her fireplace.

"Now, I am going to go home and take a shower and dress. And you, my girlfriend, are going to stay here until I come back, okay?" James said.

_Girlfriend_.

Marley felt her heart grow at the sound of it. Before James could step into the fireplace, Marley was on her feet, running to him. She jumped into his arms, hugging him tightly.

James.

Her boyfriend.

**. . .**

"Mer, your parents are probably wondering where you are."

Meredith didn't care. She didn't ever want to move from her spot on Leo's chest. His arms tightened around her waist and she just squeezed her eyes shut.

"We've been here all day. It's dark out." he whispered.

He sat up, forcing her to sit up with him. Meredith looked at him as he touched her cheek gently.

"Let me take you home, okay?" he said softly.

She wasn't sure if she could face going home. After crying all day, she felt absolutely destroyed and worn down. She wasn't sure what she was going to do when she saw her parents.

"Will you stay with me?" she whispered.

"Of course." he answered.

Leo Apparated them back to Meredith's house, landing them in the living room. Meredith groaned inwardly at the sight of her parents and Uncle Harry. She had really been hoping that her house would be empty.

"There you are!" Hermione shouted, standing up and pulling Meredith into her arms.

"We've been wondering where you were." Draco said.

Meredith pulled away from her mother but remained silent. Leo placed his hand on the small of her back, rubbing it in small circles.

"We had Harry checking his house every couple hours." Hermione added.

Meredith didn't have the energy to say anything. She was too encased in thoughts of her baby girl. When she went through a day like this, it was hard to stop.

"Meredith, what's wrong?" her mother asked.

Meredith just shook her head, starting to head for the stairs. Her father was suddenly in her path, blocking the staircase. Meredith just looked up at him, her eyes too tired to show anything. She didn't even have the strength to argue.

"Meredith, please." Draco said.

"Dad, move out of the way." Meredith whispered tiredly.

Flames erupted in the fireplace revealing Ginny who stepped out, her eyes instantly falling on Meredith.

"Aunt Ginny, can you please tell my father to get the hell out of my way?" Meredith whispered, hoping that her eyes would portray exactly what she was thinking about.

Ginny nodded in understanding. "Draco, please let your daughter go."

"What's going on?" Draco asked.

Meredith looked at Ginny in panic. She knew she was going to lose it again, and she couldn't lose it in front of her parents. Her lip started to quiver and she suddenly felt like a kid again.

"Mer, it's okay." Leo whispered in her ear, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her to him.

"Draco, let them go." Ginny said again.

"No. I'm sick of this. Leo, what the hell did you do to my daughter?" Draco said, yelling.

Meredith shook and turned to bury her face in Leo's chest again. She couldn't hold it together. She just couldn't do it anymore.

"Look, _sir_. I know we don't know each other, but you need to back the hell off of your daughter." Leo suddenly said.

"Excuse me? You don't have any right to talk to me like that, especially in my own home." Draco snapped back.

"Really, I don't care right now. All I'm trying to do is help your daughter upstairs." Leo said.

"Yeah, you're not going upstairs with my daughter." Draco said with a dry, bitter laugh.

"Draco, let them go." Ginny interjected.

"Excuse me, Ginny. This is _my_ house, not yours. It's _my_ daughter, not yours. Therefore it's _my_ problem, not yours." Draco shouted.

Meredith couldn't listen to this. She began to sob loudly into Leo's chest, quieting everyone down in the room. She felt someone come up behind her and touch her shoulder, but she couldn't turn around. She just couldn't do anything except for cry.

"Meredith, love." she heard her Mother say.

Meredith wrapped her arms around Leo's middle, holding herself against him. As she cried, she could hear Ava's gurgling sounds that she would make echoing in her head. She could still hear her cries, her laughter - everything. If she tried hard enough, she could even smell her.

**. . .**

Hermione couldn't remember the last time she had seen her daughter look so broken. She wasn't sure she could remember the last time she had seen _anyone_ look so broken. It actually reminded her quite a bit of herself when Meredith had been missing.

"Meredith, would you please talk to us? Not now, of course." Hermione whispered. "But later. When you're ready."

Hermione felt tears spring to her eyes just at the sight of her eldest daughter. She watched as Meredith nodded her head into Leo's chest before turning around in his arms to look at her. All Hermione could see in Meredith's eyes was agony.

"Th-th-thanks Mum." Meredith stammered.

Hermione turned to Draco and pulled him out of Meredith and Leo's way. He was still grumbling as she did so, but she instantly silenced him with a look. She knew he was just as concerned for Meredith as she was - he just had a different way of showing it.

Leo guided Meredith up the stairs and Hermione waited until she heard a door shut before speaking.

"_Honestly_, Draco! She was upset! Why couldn't you just let them go?" Hermione snapped, swatting his arm.

This whole day had given her a headache. She had spent a large chunk of the day in the living room with Harry and Draco, trying to decide what to do with Ron. When Harry had left to speak with Ginny, he had returned only an hour later - looking miserable. Now that Ginny was there as well, Hermione didn't know what to think.

"I'm worried about her. I don't know what he's done to her, but -" Draco started.

"Shut up, Draco. For the love of God, Leo hasn't done anything to her, okay?" Ginny sighed, sitting down next to Harry on the couch.

Hermione looked at her friend with raised eyebrows. How the hell would Ginny know?

"Before you ask, Hermione - it doesn't matter how I know. I just do, alright? Meredith will talk to you when she's ready." Ginny sighed.

It then occurred to Hermione that Meredith had confided in Ginny. She had chosen to speak with her instead of to Hermione herself. She couldn't deny that it stung a bit. She had always prided herself on being so close with her eldest.

Now she was starting to wonder if she knew her at all.

"Look... Ron's owled us." Ginny sighed, reaching into her jean pocket and pulling out a crumpled piece of paper. "He wants to... to speak with us all."

Hermione shook her head instantly. "No. No way. He doesn't just get to _do_ this."

"I-I know, Hermione. But... you know that what happened wasn't really him and-and maybe..." Ginny started weakly.

"Maybe _what_, Gin?" Hermione snapped, stepping towards her friend with her eyes narrowed.

"Maybe he's the same guy he used to be. Before the tumour." Ginny whispered, her eyes tearing up.

Hermione looked at Harry who was staring blankly into space, a tortured expression on his face. She shook her head at Ginny, turning around and storming past Draco up the stairs.

"Hermione, come on. Read the letter." Ginny called out.

Hermione stopped halfway up the stairs, turning around as tears leaked from her eyes.

"He ruined _everything_, Ginny. He beat the hell out of me. I almost died. He took my baby girl. You saw her on the train, Gin. Tell me that that has never left your mind, because it sure as hell never left mine." Hermione said darkly, turning around and continuing on up the stairs.


	14. The Truth

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter Fourteen: The Truth**

When Meredith awoke the next morning, her head hurt worse than it did when she was hungover. It was from all the crying she had done in the last 24 hours. She had stayed up deep into the night, crying continually. When she had finally been able to actually sleep, she would just wake up and cry even more.

Leo had been crying silently all night - she knew that. He was just trying to be strong for her.

Meredith was dreading getting up. She knew that she had to finally face everything with her family. She had to tell her parents. She had to come clean. And she honestly had no idea how her parents would react. She was considering having Ginny in the room when she told the story - but she wasn't sure how her parents would react when they knew that Ginny had known.

She would definitely have Teddy there. She wouldn't have gotten through any of it without him.

**. . .**

_Meredith sat on the balcony of their hotel room in Italy. The sun was burning her pale skin - she knew that. But, she didn't care. She didn't care about anything anymore._

_She had been traveling through Europe for four months now, and none of it had made the pain lessen whatsoever._

_"Meredith?"_

_She turned her head to the door of the balcony finding Teddy coming out. He sat down on the chair next to hers. The balcony was small, just enough for two chairs._

_"Yeah?" she asked dully._

_Teddy reached forward and touched her cheek. She forced herself to meet his eyes, finding sadness in them. Without thinking anything further, her eyes welled up in tears and she let out a choked sob._

_"Oh, Meredith." he whispered, pulling her to him._

_Meredith buried her head into Teddy's shoulder, letting out all of the pain that she could. She knew that if she let herself, she could cry forever into Teddy's shoulder._

_"I've got to ask you again." Teddy whispered._

_"No, Teddy." Meredith said, lifting her head up to look at him. "We're not writing him."_

_Teddy had been on Meredith to write to Leo. She hadn't seen him - or spoken to him - since graduation. It was destroying her, but she knew it was for the best._

_For now, anyways._

_"He'll be able to help you, Meredith. He's the only one who can understand - truly."_

_"I can't, Teddy. I just can't do it." Meredith sobbed, resting her head on Teddy's shoulder again._

_"Okay. Okay, what can I do?" he whispered._

_"This."_

_"Okay."_

**. . .**

Meredith knew that the minute she saw her parents, they would ask her. She had seen the worry in her mother's eyes last night.

Leo's arms were wrapped around her waist as she faced away from him. She remembered all those mornings waking up with Leo and how wonderful they had been. She remembered waking up for midnight feedings with Ava - waking up in this exact position.

She turned over to face him, finding his eyes already slightly open, squinty with sleep and red from tears.

"Hey." he whispered.

Meredith felt her heart race at just being this close to him. She took in a deep, shaky breath. She could not allow herself to feel the feelings she knew that she still harbored for Leo. The feelings she would _always_ have for him.

"I don't know how to tell them, Leo. I really don't." Meredith whispered.

Leo reached forward and tucked her hair behind her ear. She could tell just from the look on his face that he was fighting off kissing her. She still remembered everything about him.

"You've just got to do it, love. That's all you can do." he whispered.

_Love_.

It had been so long since Leo had called her that, but it still made Meredith's heart beat quickly.

"D-do you want to tell your Aunt and Uncle as well?" Meredith asked.

Leo nodded. "I suppose I'd better."

"We could have them here. Do it together." Meredith suggested.

Leo had the kissing look again and Meredith sat up reluctantly. She just wasn't ready for that - despite how much she knew she wanted it.

"Okay." he whispered, leaning forward and kissing her forehead.

**. . .**

"Marley, I feel like something bad's about to happen, you know? D'you ever get that feeling?" James whispered in Marley's ear.

He felt her nod against him as she lifted her head off of his shoulder. She turned to look at him and he touched her cheek gently. The two were sitting on the love seat in Marley's living room, waiting for Meredith and Leo. Across from them in the couch were Draco and Hermione, who were sitting a noticeable distance apart - something that was rare.

Even James knew that Hermione and Draco were almost always touching - holding hands or sitting with their arms around each other. He looked back at Marley, sensing worry in her eyes.

"Even if it is, it's okay though. You've got me." he said, whispering to her again.

He really wanted to kiss her, but he wasn't sure about doing that in front of her parents. None of their parents knew, even though he was sure that it had to be quite obvious now.

"So do you." she whispered back, touching his nose with her finger and smiling gently at him.

He looked back at Hermione and Draco who were watching James and Marley, not saying a single word. Marley sighed loudly, loudly enough to get their attention.

"What is it, Marley?" Hermione sighed.

"_Nothing_, Mum. I didn't say anything." Marley groaned.

"Has your sister said anything to you?" Draco asked.

"No, Dad. I've already told you. I don't know what's up with her." Marley said.

"Draco, I really don't know how we can tell her what's going on after seeing her that way last night." Hermione said.

"Yeah, by the way, _what is going on_?" James asked.

"I think your parents better tell you that one, James." Draco sighed.

"No. They won't talk to me about it. Mum especially. They won't even talk to each other." James said.

He was angry with his parents. He couldn't even deny that. They weren't telling him anything. All they were doing was fighting.

**. . .**

Draco watched Marley and James. James's arm was thrown around Marley and she was snuggled up against his side in a way that was just slightly different than ever before. He knew they were together. They had to be.

And while he was happy about it - he was still apprehensive.

He also wasn't sure what was wrong with Meredith. Earlier that morning, when they had all been in the kitchen, she had asked if she could speak to Draco and Hermione privately. Her and Marley had exchanged a look and then decided that Marley could be included, as well as James.

That had been a few hours ago. Now, the four were waiting for Leo and Meredith to return from wherever the hell they had gone.

He had bickered with Hermione late into the night about how to tell Meredith and he knew that she was mad at him. He had reached for her hand when they sat down, and she had moved away.

She never did that.

"Look, James. After Meredith has discussed - whatever she's discussing - we'll talk about it, okay? Everyone together." Hermione said.

Draco sighed, rolling his eyes. "Hermione, don't say things if you don't know what's actually going to happen."

"Oh my God, you are insufferable, you know that?" Hermione said, almost shouting.

Draco quieted down. He knew that she was _really_ angry at him. She never shouted at him in front of any of their kids, even the elder ones.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Draco whispered, looking down.

He decided to avoid all eye contact with everyone in the room - it was probably safest that way. He knew that he was taking stress out on Marley and James - just as he was certain Ginny was as well, and it wasn't fair.

"Your parents will be okay, James. I've seen them get through everything, alright?" Hermione said, ignoring Draco's words.

Draco felt bad at Hermione's words. He looked up at James, recognizing true fear in the boy's eyes. He had known James since the moment he was born - he knew the kid well.

"Hermione's right, James." Draco decided to add.

He caught eyes with Marley who nodded at him with slight gratitude.

At least he'd done _something_ right today.

The flames in their fireplace lit up and out walked Ginny, Harry and Teddy. Draco raised his eyebrows, he hadn't known that they were coming to hear Meredith speak as well.

"Did Meredith ask you to come?" Hermione asked.

All three of them nodded. Draco tried to read their expressions - Ginny looked incredibly sad; Harry looked about as confused as Draco felt; and Teddy looked moderately terrified.

Before they could say anything, the flames lit up again. At first, Draco wasn't sure exactly who it was - but then he realized that it was Astoria Greengrass and Theo Nott.

"Um..." Hermione said.

"Hi." Astoria said quietly, looking around the room nervously.

"Teddy's asked us to come." Theo said, clearing his throat.

Draco looked at Hermione who was looking more and more panicked by the minute. He knew that she was still angry with him, but he didn't care anymore. He slid closer and took her head, squeezing it tightly when she tried to pull it away. He heard her sigh before squeezing it back and moving close to him.

"So... whatever this is... it's big. I mean... look at us all." Marley said.

**. . .**

Meredith took a deep breath. She could hear everyone making hushed conversation in the living room from her spot in the kitchen. She knew that none of them knew her and Leo were in there - but she just needed a minute to prepare herself.

Not that she'd ever be ready for this.

"Mer?" Leo whispered.

She looked up at him. He was standing on the other side of the kitchen table and staring at her as he wrung his hands nervously. She watched his nails dig into the backs of his hands and she sighed, making her way over to him. He always did that when he was nervous.

She took his hands and pulled them apart, intertwining them with her own. She may have more family members in the room - but this was just as hard for him as it was for her.

"I feel like they're going to be disappointed in me, you know?" Leo said quietly. "I mean... they _raised _me, Mer and I know that they'll be just..."

He trailed off and just shook his head. They both knew that he didn't need to finish his sentence. He looked at her and she decided to take a chance and pull him into her arms. He wrapped his arms around her tightly and she rested her head in the crook of his neck.

"We can do this." he whispered.

"Yeah, we can." she echoed.

"For... for Ava." he said, his voice barely audible.

Her eyes welled up in tears. "Yeah. For... Ava."

They let go of one another and Leo took Meredith's hand, squeezing it as they walked shakily together into the living room. Instantly, the room fell silent as all eyes watched them. Meredith took in a shallow breath, looking at Leo. His face was remaining in a mask, but his eyes showed just how terrified he really was.

Meredith took in the sight of everyone before them - all familiar faces in her world, with the exception of Astoria and Theo Nott. She felt Leo shake and she closed her eyes. She knew that there was nothing she could do to truly prepare herself for this. There was nothing she could say to herself to make it easier.

"Thank you for coming." Leo said.

Meredith knew she had to speak. They were in _her _house, and most of these were _her_ people.

"There's something that I... that we've... been keeping from you." Meredith whispered. "For a long time now."

Meredith caught eyes with Teddy who nodded at her slowly, yet encouragingly. She saw the ghost of a smile on his lips, and it calmed her down ever so slightly. Then, she caught eyes with her mother.

Hermione looked absolutely terrified, even though her face was perfectly calm. Meredith could tell by her eyes.

"Just say it, sweetheart." Hermione whispered.

Leo squeezed her hand and pulled her closer to him. Meredith took a deep breath and began.

**Author's Note: **sorry it's been so long since I've posted! I've been super busy with exams and stuff. So, I'll try to post again as soon as I can. thanks for reading! please review! 3


	15. The Truth, Part Two

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter Fifteen: The Truth, Part Two**

Marley could feel her tears rushing down her face. Yet, she couldn't bring herself to do anything about them. She was so entranced with her sister's story that nothing else mattered. She couldn't believe it.

A baby.

Meredith had had a _baby_.

And now the baby was...

Marley thought back to her times at school. When Meredith had been in Seventh Year and had the baby, Marley had been in Third Year. She remembered her sister acting slightly off and very tired for the majority of the year, but...

She would never have guessed that this would have been the reason why.

"What was... what was her name?" Astoria Greengrass asked.

Marley looked at Leo's Aunt. She had been crying, just like everyone else in the room. It was only now occurring to Marley that Meredith and Leo had never said the name of the baby.

"Ava." Leo whispered, wrapping an arm around Meredith and pulling her closer. "Ava Daphne."

Marley knew that Daphne was Leo's mother's name. Her eyes just shed even more tears.

Ava.

**. . .**

Hermione felt sick.

She was horrified that she hadn't known - that her own daughter had been able to pull off having a child without her knowing. She was horrified about what had happened. Hermione remembered the months that Meredith had been missing, when she thought that she could have possibly been dead - she would never wish that feeling upon anyone.

Hermione really didn't know what to do. She wanted to comfort her daughter, who's incredibly distraught behaviour now made perfect sense. She just couldn't bring herself to get up. She felt paralyzed.

"Wh-why didn't you... why haven't you told us?" Hermione managed to squeak out.

"Because, Mum. I couldn't. I was too afraid. I know you always wanted me to..." Meredith started, her voice breaking.

Hermione found her footing and stood up, walking directly to Meredith and taking her free hand in her own.

"I know that you wanted me to have a life different from yours. You had me while you were really young and you raised me for the first couple years without Dad and... and I didn't want to disappoint you." Meredith whispered.

Hermione was full on crying now. She took a few deep breaths and caught Leo's eye who politely dropped Meredith's other hand and took a step back. Hermione pulled her into her arms and hugged her tightly, tighter than she had in a long time.

"Meredith... you could never disappoint me." she whispered.

She felt Meredith begin to sob into her shoulder and Hermione rubbed her back, just as she used to when she was a child. Hermione looked up as she hugged her daughter, catching eyes with Leo again.

Leo had tears streaming down his face and Hermione felt her heart break for him, too. Throughout Meredith's story, Hermione had seen just how much it had affected Leo as well, not just Meredith. She could also see how much Leo loved Meredith - and vice versa, even if Meredith didn't realize it.

Meredith pulled away and wrapped her arms around herself. Hermione stared at her, unsure of what to do or say. She knew there really was _nothing_ she could say. Even though this had happened two years ago, Hermione knew that time wouldn't heal this type of wound quickly. It would always be with Meredith and Leo.

She watched Leo step back to Meredith and place an arm around her, pulling her back to him. Hermione turned around and caught eyes with Ginny, who was in tears just like the rest of us. Except... she didn't look shocked.

It then occurred to Hermione that Ginny already knew.

That was why she had argued with Draco last night about letting Meredith go.

"You knew." Hermione whispered.

"Mum, d-don't be mad at her." Meredith called out weakly.

Hermione shook her head. "I'm not. I'm just... confused. Why?"

"Because...Teddy t-told me about her miscarriage and I just..." Meredith started before fully breaking down into tears.

Hermione couldn't help but feel hurt in her daughter's lack of trust in her - yet, her concern for Meredith completely overpowered her own feelings.

"I wish you would have told me. I would have been there for you, love." Hermione whispered.

**. . .**

Draco watched his wife try to calm down their daughter from his spot on the couch. He knew that he should try and do the same, but...

He couldn't.

He couldn't force himself to get up.

He was too in shock.

He couldn't believe it. His daughter - his little girl - had had her _own_ child. He wanted to punch Leo for getting Meredith pregnant in the first place, but he knew he couldn't do that. Not when he could see the pain written all over the young man's face.

He kept hearing Meredith's words echo in his head.

_"She died. She's dead."_

Draco thought back to all those years ago when Ron had had Meredith - when Draco had let himself think for a moment that she was dead. He could not even cope with the pain. He honestly didn't know how his daughter was still standing - how she had put on a brave face for so long.

But of course, that was why she had seemed so distraught. And that was why she had been hiding away in Europe since she had graduated from Hogwarts.

"D-D-Daddy?"

Draco looked up at Meredith. She hadn't called him that since she was a little girl. He felt tears leak down his face at a rapid pace, and he had no idea what to do. Meredith had let go of Leo and was now standing in front of Draco, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.

"Pl-please say something." she whispered.

Draco shook his head. He couldn't say something. He couldn't say anything. He knew whatever he said would be the wrong thing, and therefore, he needed to keep his mouth shut.

"I'm sorry." she said, crouching down in front of him.

Draco knew he was being selfish. He knew that he needed to be there for his daughter, when she was dealing with such an unimaginable pain.

"I don't... I don't know what to say." Draco managed to say.

Meredith stood up and crossed her arms over her chest, stepping farther away from Draco and turning around. He wanted to comfort her, but he didn't know how. He felt like a disappointment - how did he not know that his daughter had had a _child?_

"Meredith, come here." Teddy said.

Draco watched as Teddy walked over to Meredith and pulled her into his arms, just like Draco wished that he had the strength to do. He looked up at Hermione. She was staring at Meredith as tears gushed from her eyes. He wished that he could comfort her, too.

But he couldn't.

He just sat there.

**. . .**

James felt ridiculously uncomfortable.

He watched as Teddy hugged Meredith tightly, petting her hair as she cried into his shoulder. He felt Marley shift next to him and he took her hand in his, intertwining their fingers and giving it a squeeze.

He looked at her, watching tears cascade down her face. He was certain that there was no one in the room with a dry eye - except for him. And even his eyes were misty.

He couldn't believe it. It was too incredibly horrible to imagine.

"Let me make you some tea, okay?" Teddy whispered.

James watched Meredith nod and let go of Teddy, holding her arms crossed tight over her chest once more. It looked as though she was trying to physically hold herself together. James brought Marley's hand to his lips and kissed it gently before setting it down gently.

He knew what he needed to do.

He stood up and made his way to Meredith. She smiled feebly at him for a moment before closing her eyes. His heart contracted painfully. This was Meredith - she had been like an older sister to him throughout his entire life. He knew that Marley idolized her, even if she would never admit it. That fact alone made it even more important for him to be there for her.

"Come here." James said, pulling Meredith into his arms.

"Oh, James." Meredith whispered, hugging him tighter. "Pl-please make sure that Marley isn't too angry with me for not telling her. Pl-pl-please help her understand."

"I'll try my best." he whispered back.

**. . .**

Meredith couldn't believe that she had come clean.

That she had told everyone important in her life about Ava.

She shook as James held her tightly. She felt pathetic sobbing all over her sister's boyfriend - she knew just by one glance that that was now who he was to Marley.

She also felt incredibly sad that James had moved to speak with her before her own father.

"Don't worry about Marley, okay?" James whispered, letting her go. "You know how she is. She might seem mad, but she won't be."

Meredith nodded, taking her eyes off of James to look at her sister. She was still sitting on the love seat, staring down at the floor with blank eyes as tears slid down her face. She looked around the rest of the room, taking in everyone's somber expressions. Most of them were just staring blatantly at either her or Leo - who was standing a few feet behind her.

She turned around to look at him. His fists were balled at his sides and he looked as though he was shaking. She knew she had to do something.

"Leo." she whispered.

He didn't look at her. He had been so strong throughout the entire story. When Meredith had lost the use of her voice - multiple times - he had taken her hand and carried on for her.

"Leo, look at me." she whispered again, stepping closer and touching his cheek gently.

He shook his head, taking a step back. "No."

"Leo, please." she begged.

"It's not fucking fair. She didn't deserve this. _We _didn't deserve this." he muttered.

Meredith took his face in her hands, gripping him tightly to force him to look up at her.

"Don't." she whispered, shaking her head. "Don't do that."

"Why fucking not? Don't tell me you don't think that everyday." Leo said, his voice continuing to rise.

"Of course I do! I think about her every second!" Meredith screamed, the tone of her voice surprising her.

Leo looked somewhat taken aback by her abruptly loud tone that he almost jumped. She dropped her hands from his face and shook her head.

"I told you, Mer. I lost _both_ of you." he said.

"Well, so did I!"

"Yeah, but you're the one who left _me_! You didn't have to fucking do that! We could have gotten through it together! And now, we're both way more fucked up!" Leo yelled.

Meredith was shaking with her rage and sadness. Her tears were so strong that she could hardly see in front of her.

"I did what I had to do. I can't change it now!" she shouted.

"Meredith, for fuck's sake. You -" he started.

And suddenly, Teddy was in front of her. He reached behind him and put a protective hand on her shoulder.

"Leo. Back off. I understand where you're coming from, but this is not the time nor place to do this, okay?" Teddy said, his voice calm.

Meredith felt someone come up beside her and she turned her head to find Astoria and Theo Nott. Astoria stepped in front of Teddy and put her hand on Leo's cheek, forcing him to look at her.

"Leo. We're taking you home, okay?" she said

. "What? No, I -" he began to protest.

"Leo... just go." Meredith whispered, surprising herself.

Leo looked at her and Meredith had to force herself to look away. She was sending him away... again.

And then, _she_ knew she had to get out of there as well. She grabbed Teddy's hand and pulled him to her. She knew that he would take her somewhere - somewhere where she could let out all her pain and anger.

"Please get me out of here." she whispered.

Before Teddy answered, Meredith heard the sound of Leo Disapparating with his Aunt and Uncle. Meredith let out a loud sob before feeling the sensation of Apparation taking her away as well.

**Author's Note:** thank you all so much for the reviews! Please keep them coming! xx


	16. Aftermath

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter Sixteen: Aftermath**

The next morning, the first thing Hermione thought of were her children.

All of them.

Meredith, Marley, Jeremy, Scorpius and Lyra.

She could not fathom her world without them. Any of them. She honestly didn't know how Meredith was still standing. And she knew that even though she was, she was glued together horribly. And all Hermione wanted to do was put her back together.

She rolled over onto her side, finding Draco already awake and staring at the ceiling with widened, tired eyes.

"I sat there." Draco whispered.

Hermione didn't know what to say. She knew that there was nothing she could say. Not to her daughter, not to her husband, not to anyone.

"Ginny didn't tell us. She knew and she didn't tell us." Hermione said after a few minutes.

She thought of the moment when Ginny had told her about her miscarriage all those years ago. The miscarriage that had happened before her almost-wedding to Ron. Hermione had been _so_ hurt for Ginny - she had seen the pain in her friend's eyes.

Hermione was glad that Meredith had had someone to turn to, even if it hadn't been her. She knew it was selfish of her to be somewhat jealous of Ginny, but she really didn't know how else to feel. She didn't know what to feel at all.

She was somewhat furious that Ginny hadn't told her. But... she also felt as though she was misplacing her rage. She was more furious at the fact that her - her _granddaughter _- hadn't gotten a chance to live. That her daughter was going to have to deal with that pain for the rest of her life.

"Leo was so furious at her." Hermione whispered.

"Can you blame him?" Draco sighed.

Hermione narrowed her eyebrows at her husband. How could he say that?

"I just mean... she shut him out, you know? I know that if you had done that when Meredith had been missing... I wouldn't have been able to cope." Draco continued, his voice slow.

Hermione didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to feel.

She didn't know anything anymore.

**. . .**

Marley was almost certain that she hadn't slept at all.

When she had started to make her way to her room the night before with James following her, neither her parents nor his had tried to stop them.

That's how messed up everyone was.

"You were tossing and turning all night." James' low voice said from next to her.

Marley turned onto her side to look at him. He reached forward and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her to him. She let herself snuggle close, closing her eyes.

"I couldn't turn my mind off." she whispered.

"Yeah, me neither."

"I just... I can't believe that she... that she was actually pregnant and she didn't tell me."

James was quiet and Marley opened her eyes to look at him. He was staring down at her intently. Before she could say anything, he pressed his lips onto hers and kissed her deeply. She was surprised by the sudden intensity of it, yet kissed him back all the same.

"What was that for?" she breathed as they pulled away.

"If... if something like that ever -" he started.

"James." Marley said, shaking her head.

"No, let me finish." he said, cupping her cheek. "If something like that ever happened to us, I would stay by your side. I just want you to know that."

Marley nodded slowly. "So would I."

Marley kissed him again before sitting up. She stepped out of bed and smoothed down her oversized t-shirt that all but covered her pajama shorts.

"Where are you going?" James asked.

"To go see Meredith. I'll bring up some coffee when I'm done, okay?" Marley said, turning around to look at him.

He nodded at her and she felt herself smile at his adorable, morning squinty eyes.

"I probably won't be long. She probably won't be up for talking." Marley whispered.

He nodded again and she bent down to kiss his forehead, smoothing back his messy, black hair. Marley stood back up and sighed, padding out the door and heading to her sister's room. When Marley had gone to bed the night before, Meredith still hadn't returned with Teddy, so she wasn't even sure if Meredith would actually be in her room.

She knocked on the door and waited for some sort of sign of a reply. She was about to knock again when the door opened and Teddy slipped out. She had not been expecting that.

"Whoa. Hi." Marley said.

"Hi." Teddy sighed.

"Is she in there?" Marley asked.

Teddy nodded, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah. She's sleeping. At least she's pretending to be."

Marley nodded. "Listen, I need to speak to her. You... James is in my room. Would you mind bringing him coffee?"

Teddy smirked and rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Sure. I was going to get Meredith some coffee anyways. You want some?"

"You are an angel, Teddy." Marley said with a grin.

Teddy just rolled his eyes again and grinned. Marley looked at the closed door to Meredith's room and felt a pit of dread fill her stomach.

"This is really bad, isn't it, Teddy?" Marley whispered.

Teddy's expression became extremely serious and Marley knew that he was worried.

"It's been really bad since it happened, Mar. And... because she's sort of... put off dealing with it for so long and because Leo's back in her life... yeah. It's really bad." Teddy whispered.

"I wish that she'd told me, or something, you know? I wish that she had realized that she didn't have to go through this alone." Marley whispered.

"I know. When we were in Europe... she sort of only let me in sometimes. And hardly Victoire. She would disappear for weeks at a time and come back, saying she went off to some other part of the country. It's just been her way of dealing. Pretending that it didn't happen, I think."

"It's not healthy, though."

"No, it's not."

Teddy stepped forward and kissed the top of Marley's head before moving past her. "I'll be back with some coffee."

"Thanks, Ted." Marley called out.

She took a deep breath and opened the door to Meredith's room. Just as she had suspected, Meredith was awake. She knew that her sister had issues with sleeping. Meredith was sitting up in her bed, back against the headboard. She had her knees tucked up against her chest and was staring off into space.

"Meredith?" Marley called out hesitantly.

Meredith turned her head and smiled weakly at her sister, the smile fading almost as quickly as it had come. Marley took another deep breath before making her way over to the bed and sitting down on the edge.

"Meredith, I really don't know what to say." Marley whispered.

She might as well be honest, because she really _didn't_ know what to say in the slightest.

"I'm not going to ask you why you didn't tell us." Marley continued.

"Good." Meredith said hoarsely.

"I wish I knew how to help you." Marley said.

Meredith nodded and Marley just stared at her. Suddenly, a thought struck her mind and she opened her mouth to speak, before shutting it. She really didn't want to upset her sister any further.

"What?" Meredith asked.

"Oh, nothing." Marley mumbled.

"No. What?" Meredith repeated.

"I just... do you have a picture of her?" Marley said, her cheeks flushing.

Meredith finally turned to look at her, her eyes wide. Marley instantly regretted even asking, but she was _so_ curious about her niece.

Niece.

She had been an Aunt and she hadn't even known.

"Yeah." Meredith squeaked out.

"Would it be okay if I saw it? You don't have to look if you don't want to. Just tell me where and I'll get it." Marley said.

Meredith said nothing. She leaned across Marley and pulled a photo album out of her bedside table, putting it on Marley's lap.

"Fourth last page. They start there." Meredith whispered.

Marley took a deep breath and looked down at the photo album. She wanted to see Ava desperately, but she really wasn't sure if she should be looking at it in front of Meredith.

"It's okay, Marley. You can look at them." Meredith sighed.

Marley nodded and skimmed through the booklet, to the fourth last page. She felt her breath leave her as she looked down at Ava, the little girl she would never know.

**. . .**

Draco stopped short at the sight of Teddy Lupin in his kitchen. He had not been expecting anyone to be in the kitchen.

"Oh, hi Uncle Draco." Teddy mumbled, pouring out four mugs of coffee.

"That's... that's an alarming amount of coffee." Draco said, unsure of what to do.

He felt like he was moving through water. Moving in slow motion. He was almost certain that this wasn't real life, that everything he had been told yesterday was just the product of an odd dream.

"What?" Teddy asked. "Oh, yeah. Don't worry. Not just for me."

Draco nodded, though hardly hearing the boy. He headed over to the coffee machine as well, pouring out a cup for himself and Hermione, who had promised to come downstairs in a few minutes.

"Look, Draco..." Teddy started.

Draco forced himself to look at Teddy and pay attention. He knew that whatever he was about to say was going to be about Meredith - and he needed to pay attention to that.

"Meredith's struggled with a long time to keep this a secret. I know that she had planned on telling you more times than I can count but..." Teddy started.

When he trailed off, Draco really was paying attention. He noticed that Teddy was starting to get choked up - something that Draco wasn't used to from him, even when he had been a young boy and first truly come into their lives.

"When Ava died... well, she sort of abandoned any hope of telling you. She hasn't dealt with it whatsoever." Teddy continued.

"D-did you spend a lot of time with her? Ava, I mean?" Draco decided to ask in a small voice.

Teddy smiled bitterly. "I was there when she was born."

Draco's heart suddenly hurt a thousand times worse. He nodded and cleared his throat. He did _not_ want to break down before Hermione got up. He wanted to be strong. After having felt so utterly useless yesterday, he wanted to do _some_ good today. He wanted to be supportive in any way possible.

"Who's... who's all the coffee for?" Draco asked, deciding to change the subject.

"Well, me, Meredith, Marley and... my brother." Teddy sighed.

Draco shook his head and looked back up at Teddy. "Are you meaning to tell me that James spent _another_ night in my house in my daughter's bed?"

Teddy shrugged. "No idea. All I know is that Marley asked me to bring him coffee in her room."

"And where is my daughter now?" Draco asked.

"With your other daughter."

Draco nodded. He knew that that should mean something good. That Meredith wasn't completely shutting everyone out. He had watched Marley last night. He knew that she had been just as surprised as the rest of them.

Before either one of them could say anything more, the eruption of flames came from the living room. Draco rolled his eyes and groaned. He really was _not_ in the mood for any visitors yet - especially since he apparently already had two of them.

The two made their way into the living room, finding Hermione walking down the stairs in a silk robe as well as Ginny stepping out of the fireplace. Draco made his way to Hermione and placed a mug of coffee into her hands as he kissed her forehead.

"Thanks." she mumbled.

"Hi." Ginny called out.

"What are you doing here, Ginny?" Hermione asked.

Draco already knew that this wasn't good. He could tell just by Hermione's tone. Ginny opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by Hermione before she could say anything.

"How could you not tell us?" Hermione suddenly yelled.

She charged past Draco as she placed her coffee back into his hands. He sighed, shaking his head as he turned around and placed the coffee down on the table.

"Hermione, she made me swear not to _before_ she told me what had happened. I couldn't do that to her. Not after she trusted me like that." Ginny said.

"For fuck's sake, Ginny! Did you even try to convince her to tell us?" Hermione shouted.

"Of course I did! I told her that you would understand better than she thought but she didn't want to hurt you, Hermione." Ginny said.

**. . .**

James heard the yelling of his Mom and Hermione from his spot on Marley's bed. He groaned and shook his head, rolling his eyes.

He knew that Marley had told him to stay there, but there was no way that he could now. If his Mother was there, that meant that everyone already knew that he had spent the night with Marley.

Nothing to lose now.

He got up and quickly made his way down the stairs to the living room, finding Draco all but holding back Hermione from attacking Ginny. Teddy had his arms crossed tight over his chest as he just watched the two women scream at each other.

"For Merlin's sake." James muttered under his breath.

When had everything become so screwed up?

"Would you all please stop shouting?" James yelled.

He was surprised when everyone quieted down and turned to look at him. His cheeks flushed slightly as he made his way into the room, walking over to stand next to Teddy who clapped a hand onto his shoulder.

"Look, I might not know exactly what's going on - besides what Meredith told us - but I do know that all of you bloody arguing is _not_ helping anything." James continued.

For a moment, he was expecting an explosion of screaming voices to come back at him. But everyone stayed silent, merely just staring at him.

"Ginny, what are you doing here?" Draco asked.

"I've... I've come to bring you the letter Ron sent us. I really wish that you would read it." Ginny whispered.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded up piece of parchment. James watched his Aunt Hermione tremble and Draco wrapped a protective arm around her. After a long moment, Hermione reached forward and took the letter from Ginny.

"Fine." Hermione whispered.

"In the meantime, Aunt Gin, I think we could all use some time by ourselves, so... you should probably go home." Teddy said.

"What? No, I -" Ginny started.

"Mum. Please. Go see Dad, okay?" James added.

Ginny looked at him with a confused look on her face. "Why?"

"Because! Because all you've been doing is row, okay? You've got Lily and Albus worried that you're splitting up!" he shouted.

James decided to leave out the part that he was _also_ worried that his parents were going to split up. There was no need to call attention to that.

"What?" Ginny said, her voice faraway.

"Mum... he's right." Teddy whispered.

James turned to look at Teddy. Everyone knew that Teddy did _not_ call Ginny his Mum unless it was incredibly serious. He knew that his parents had died when he was just a few months old, and Harry and Ginny had never tried to replace them.

Whenever Teddy called her 'Mum', it always got to her.

With not another word said, Ginny stepped back into the fireplace, and was gone.

Draco turned to face James and James' face suddenly got incredibly hot. Teddy stepped in front of him and intervened before Draco said anything.

"Go wait for me in the kitchen. One of the coffee's is yours." Teddy said, looking at him in a way that James knew he had to listen.

James sighed and turned around, heading towards the kitchen.

**. . .**

Hermione clutched the letter tightly in her hand and moved to sit down on the couch. She was shaking, she could feel it. She couldn't believe that she was _actually_ going to read a letter written by the man who had made her life hell.

She felt Draco sit down beside her as she heard Teddy leave the room to join James.

James.

She couldn't believe that it had taken _James_ to get her to stop screaming. She had seen the panicked look on his face. It was the same look she had seen on Marley's face many a time. The look when they were frightened to death about what was happening, but tried to mask it with anger.

"Are you going to read it?" Draco asked.

Hermione looked up at him. He was sitting close to her, a hand on her thigh for support. He looked just as scared and worn as she felt. Before moving forward and tackling the next problem, Hermione leaned forward and kissed Draco hard.

She felt his surprise in the kiss, and she didn't blame him. But, he kissed her back all the same and she held onto him for as long as she could until she needed some air.

And then, they began to read.

**Author's Note: **alright, so THANK YOU FOR CONTINUING TO READ! I'm going through some pretty shit personal stuff, so I'll try to keep posting whenever I can, just please hang in there and keep reading!  
also, I've gotten some pretty... _mixed_ reviews about this story. Sort of seems like some of you LOVE it, whereas some others... not so much. But that's okay. I love hearing what you think.  
there's been a couple questions that I've got an answer for -  
- Ginny had a miscarriage that was addressed in _Gone. _This is the sequel to _Gone_, so if you didn't read that one, I would recommend doing so.  
- the school not telling Hermione and Draco about Meredith will be addressed soon, I promise!

PLEASE KEEP READING AND REVIEWING! xx


	17. Decisions

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter Seventeen: Decisions**

_Ginny and Harry,_

_I know that neither of you want to hear from me. I don't blame you. There's a reason why we haven't spoken in over sixteen years, and we both know what it is. What happened happened and I wish every single day that I could change it, but I know that I can't._

_I was married for ten years. My wife died a few months ago, leaving me with our two kids, Connor and Rose. I haven't any idea what to do anymore, so that's why I've reached out to Mum and Dad, as I'm sure you already know. I would love to talk to you both. Hermione as well. But I won't blame you if you don't even tell her that I've contacted you._

_Please, please just consider it._

_Ron_

Hermione had read the parchment at least seven times. She kept reading it and reading it, as if expecting it to change in some way.

Had Ginny responded? Had she agreed to speak with him? Had Harry?

Hermione stood up, dropping the letter onto the floor and stepping to the fireplace instantly.

"Angel, hang on a minute." Draco called out.

She turned around, finding him staring at her with raised eyebrows. She just groaned and stared right back.

"What?" she said loudly.

"Just... before you go barging over there... take a minute." Draco whispered, reaching her and taking her face in his hands. "Process this. See the kids. And then... then we'll go over together, okay?"

Hermione stared into his familiar eyes and sighed. She knew he was entirely right. The first thing she had thought of that morning were her children. She did want to see them. She needed to see them.

All of them.

"Okay." she whispered, kissing him lightly.

"Mummy? Daddy?"

They pulled away from one another and Hermione found a small, genuine smile come across her face as she caught sight of Scorpius and Lyra on the stairs. It had been Lyra who had spoken, a small pout on her lips.

"What's wrong, love?" Hermione asked, approaching them and crouching down in front of the two.

"Scorp said my hair was ugly, but we have the same hairs!" Lyra shouted, her lip quivering.

Hermione looked up at Draco who had a tired, yet amused expression on his face. She felt the exact same as he looked. This was one battle that they could _definitely_ deal with.

**. . .**

Meredith hadn't been able to look at the photo album with Marley. She had just sat there and stared off into space. Now, she was lying with her head on Marley's lap - as if she were the little sister, and not the other way around.

"Meredith?" Marley whispered.

"Yeah?" she answered, realizing just how lifeless her voice sounded.

"I... I think it's okay for you to love Leo, despite what's happened." Marley said softly.

Meredith pressed her lips together, her eyes watering. She hated this. _She_ was supposed to be the comforting, older sister. Ever since Marley had been born, Meredith had wanted to just _be_ there for her. She wanted to be someone that her sister could count on - but she felt she was too messed up.

She had always been too messed up.

Suddenly the door to Meredith's room opened, revealing Teddy and James, both of whom were carrying two mugs of coffee. Meredith sat up, taking a mug from Teddy and moving over to make room for both boys on her bed. She watched as James instantly kissed Marley's forehead before sitting beside her, the action giving her slight happiness.

At least _something_ was coming together in all this sadness.

"Mer... I've got to tell you something." Teddy suddenly said.

Meredith looked at Teddy, taking in his expression. She didn't like it - not one bit. He looked scared and Meredith knew from experience that it was never a good thing when Teddy was too scared to tell her something.

"What is it?" Meredith asked.

"It's... okay. Your Mum and Dad are going to kill me for telling you, but I just can't _not_ tell you anymore." Teddy sighed.

Meredith was now insanely curious. She looked at Marley and James who were both staring at each other, exchanging a glance.

"What is it, Teddy?" Meredith asked.

"It's... okay. It's Ron." Teddy started slowly.

Meredith's heart all but stopped beating. She knew that she had to have heard him wrong. He hadn't said _Ron_, had he?

"I'm sorry, what?" Meredith asked, her voice hoarse.

"It's Ron. My grandparents said that he came to them a few days ago. He was married with two young children and well... their Mum's just died." Teddy explained. "He needs help, apparently. He wants to speak with Ginny and Harry - and I'm sure with your Mum, as well."

Meredith shook her head. There was no way that was happening. She could _not _deal with that. Despite how young she had been, Meredith still remembered how traumatic the two months with Ron had been, and how distraught she had been afterwards.

"No." Meredith whispered. "H-he can't just _do_ that! He can't come into my life and - and -"

Meredith stopped as she tried to catch her breath. She felt herself begin to hyperventilate and was grateful as Teddy reached forward and took her hand.

"He won't hurt you, Mer. You know that." Teddy whispered. "I-I'm not condoning what he did, and I'll never understand it. I'll never be able to accept him, but I'm just saying that it wasn't something he was consciously doing, you know? He was sick."

Meredith knew that Teddy was right - she knew he was exactly right. He had been ill, really ill when he had taken her. But, it didn't really make her feel any better about what had happened. Sixteen laters, and she still didn't have any closure from the whole ordeal.

"But, this doesn't mean that you have to see him, okay?" Teddy continued. "I just felt like you needed to know."

"Thanks, Teddy." Meredith whispered in a faraway voice.

**. . .**

Marley recognized Meredith's tone instantly.

She was distancing herself from the situation, which was never good. Marley knew that her sister's mind had to be on overload. She reached for her sister's hand and squeezed it tightly. She wished that she had _something_ to say, something that could help her from all the impossible pain in her life, but she knew that there was nothing.

Marley leaned against James, letting him wrap an arm around her and pull her slightly closer on Meredith's bed. She felt a slight comfort as his lips brushed her temple.

She knew that things were about to get really bad in her household, even if her mother didn't agree to meet with Ron - James' parents most likely would. It would explain why his mother had been acting so crazy.

"Look, I know this is a lot to deal with, Mer. But... it's just the way it is right now, okay?" Teddy whispered.

"Yeah." Meredith sighed. "I know. Trust me, if I hadn't promised to stay for the whole holidays, I'd be gone right about now."

Suddenly, Marley was angry. She sat up quickly, causing James to jump slightly.

"What?" Meredith asked.

"Don't do that! Don't just take off again, Meredith! I've barely seen you the last two years, okay?" Marley snapped.

"Marley, I -"

"I know something unimaginable happened to you, but you can't do that anymore. You have to stop running."

With that, Marley got up off the bed and headed for the door. She felt James instantly behind her, placing his hand on the small of her back. As much as she wanted to be alone, she knew that she would feel better with James with her.

So, she took his hand and pulled him out of the room.

"M&M, are you okay?" James whispered as they walked away from Meredith's room.

She turned to look at him, pausing and touching his face softly. "I just don't want her to leave again, okay?"

James nodded, pulling her to him and holding her close. Marley relaxed immediately in his embrace, the way she always did. She felt his hand brush against her hair and his lips brush the top of her head.

"It's alright, M&M. It'll be alright." he whispered. "I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, James." Marley whispered, pulling away slightly to look up at him.

James sighed, pressing a slow kiss to her lips. "I'm not. I just know that things'll be alright in the end. Because if they're not... then I don't know anything anymore."

Marley looked into his eyes and touched his cheek gently before kissing him deeply, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"For being you."

**. . .**

Draco sat on the couch, impatiently drumming his fingers against his knee.

He could just _not_ relax.

Hermione was upstairs with the twins, getting them ready to bring them to the Potter's house. Draco did _not_ want to go to the Potter's. He didn't want to deal with any of this anymore. He just wanted to make it all go away. He wanted things to be uncomplicated, like they used to be.

Draco was pretty sure if he ever saw Ron again that he would pummel him to the ground. He would never forget walking into St. Mungo's and seeing Hermione's battered and bruised body after he had beat her. And he would never forget finding his daughter on the Hogwarts Express.

He knew that Ron hadn't been himself - he understood that. But, still.

It had all still happened.

"Daddy!"

He looked up, finding Lyra running towards him down the stairs. He put a smile on his face and opened up his arms for his youngest daughter to jump into them. When she did, he lifted her to let her sit on his lap.

"Yes, love?" he asked.

"You look sad." she said.

Draco smiled sadly at her and shook his head. "You are too smart for your own good, you know that? More like your Mum everyday."

Lyra kissed his cheek and hugged him with her little arms. Draco's heart warmed at the act and kissed Lyra's forehead. She pulled away and jumped off his lap just in time to see Hermione walking down the stairs with Scorpius.

"Did you see Meredith while you were up there?" Draco asked hopefully.

Hermione shook her head and Draco stood up, walking to his wife and kissing her forehead.

"I think she'll come out of her room when she's ready." Hermione said.

"So do I." Draco sighed.

Jeremy suddenly came running down the stairs, a book in hand. He stopped next to Hermione and grabbed her hand, causing Draco to smile at his son. He was so incredibly perceptive of Hermione's emotions - almost more than Draco was himself.

"Are you coming, too?" Draco asked.

"Yeah." Jeremy said. "Thought I'd hang out with Albus today."

Draco nodded gratefully at his son. He knew that Jeremy coming offered Hermione support in a wonderful way.

Soon, the five of them were Flooing to the Potter's house, stepping out into their living room to find Ginny sitting on the couch with Lily next to her, wrapped up in her arms. Harry was sitting on the love seat, a concerned expression on his face.

"You're here." Ginny said.

Draco nodded curtly. He didn't know what to say. He didn't want to see Ron Weasley. He didn't even want to think about him. Just the thought made him want to rip someone or something apart.

"Lily, why don't you and Lyra and Scorpius go play in your room, okay?" Ginny said, kissing Lily's forehead.

"Okay, Mummy." Lily said, getting up and grabbing both of the twin's hands and hurrying away.

Jeremy left the room without saying anything, walking up the stairs behind the youngest ones. When the coast was clear, Draco turned back to his friends and took a deep breath. He already knew this conversation most likely was not going to go well.

"Did you read it?" Ginny asked.

Hermione nodded. "Yeah. But, it didn't exactly tell me anything I didn't already know."

Ginny sighed, and nodded. "I know, but..."

"But, what?" Hermione said.

**. . .**

Hermione didn't want to yell again, but she wasn't sure if she could help it. She was _so_ angry and stressed and scared of everything that was happening in her life that she was sure she was going to burst.

"I don't know." Ginny sighed. "I... he was sick, Hermione. And he's my brother."

Hermione felt tears in her eyes and looked at Harry. He was quiet, staring at Ginny and her. She left Draco's side and sat down next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I keep thinking about the fucking troll, Harry." Hermione whispered.

It was true. That morning, she continually had been thinking about the first true moment in their friendship, when Ron and Harry had saved her from the mountain troll in first year.

Harry just shook his head and turned to look at her. She knew that this was just as hard on him as it was on her. They had been best friends. The three of them had been through everything together.

"I can't even think of that Ron as the same person who... who beat you and took Meredith." Harry finally said.

Hermione closed her eyes, seeing flashes of Ron throwing her to the ground in the kitchen of their old flat. She would be lying if she said that that hadn't scarred her in ways she didn't like to admit. When Meredith had gone missing, that had completely taken over every part of her feelings. When they had gotten her back, Hermione had had some trouble in regards to the attack. She hadn't been quite the same for a long time after.

But Hermione really didn't care about herself. She cared about Meredith.

"It's been sixteen years." Harry mumbled.

"Look." Ginny started. "None of you have to see him. That's fine. I understand. But... I have to. I need to. I'm sorry."

Hermione wanted to feel angry. She wanted to be upset with Ginny, mainly because she wanted to be upset with _someone_. But she wasn't. She knew that Ginny had to do this.

"What about you?" Draco asked, addressing Harry.

Hermione looked at Draco in his spot next to Ginny on the couch. He saw his hardened eyes and tightened expression. He had never seen Ron afterwards. He had never seen him again.

"I... I don't know." Harry muttered, putting his face in his hands for a moment.

Hermione placed her arm around his shoulders and offered him a tight squeeze. He looked up at her, and she found him still fighting off tears.

"I think about everything we've gone through, the three of us. I think about the fucking tent, and how long we spent in there. I think about him stealing a stupid flying car with Fred and George to come and save me from the Dursley's!" Harry exclaimed. "But then, I also think about Meredith being born and Meredith crying her eyes out for months afterwards. I think about finding her on the train, and..."

Hermione nodded. She knew exactly what he meant. _Exactly_.

"Meredith comes first." Harry whispered.

"Of course she does." Ginny said. "I'm not saying she doesn't. I'm just saying... i have to do this."

Suddenly, they heard the flames erupt and they all turned to watch as Meredith stepped out with Teddy. Hermione took in her daughter's tired expression and reddened eyes. She knew that she hadn't slept.

"I know why you're all here." Meredith said, her voice shaking slightly.

Hermione froze. She looked at Draco, who looked just as surprised as she did. Then she looked at Teddy, watching as his cheeks reddened.

He had told her.

"Meredith -" Hermione started.

Meredith shook her head. "No, Mum. I wish you'd told me."

"We were going to. We just -" Draco started.

Meredith shook her head again and looked at Teddy who nodded encouragingly at her.

"You're all talking about whether or not to meet with... with Ron, am I right?" Meredith confirmed.

The four adults nodded slowly and Hermione felt Harry clutch her hand, much to her gratefulness.

"Well... I would like to." Meredith said quickly.

"I'm sorry, what?" Hermione gasped.

"I'd like to meet with him."

**Author's Note:** sorry for the long time between chapters! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW AND ENJOY! xx


	18. 2:31

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter Eighteen: 2:31**

Later that night, Hermione was certain that she had imagined Meredith expressing her wish to meet with Ron. When Meredith had announced it, Hermione had just sat there in disbelief. No one, of course, tried to persuade her not to.

Not yet, at least.

Hermione looked at the clock on the wall, sighing as she saw the time. She was exhausted, but way too tired to sleep.

2:31.

"Angel?"

Hermione looked up from her spot on the couch to find Draco coming into the room with two glasses of wine. She took one from him and downed a sip eagerly.

"Thank you."

Draco sat down next to her, remaining quiet. She looked at him, trying to read his facial expressions. She knew that it wasn't about Meredith or Ron - most likely - and therefore she didn't know exactly what was bothering him.

"What is it?" she asked.

He looked and her shook his head. "Nothing."

Hermione sighed, grabbing his wine glass from his hand and placing it down on the table along with her own. She touched his face and smiled softly at him.

"Draco Malfoy, do not lie to your wife." she sighed, shaking her head.

He just stared at her for a minute and her smile slowly slipped away as she waited for him to speak.

"Hermione, I..." he started.

She knew not to push him. She knew how he was. She had known how he was forever.

"I know this whole thing is really hard for you - with Ron. It's really hard for you and Harry, I get that, but..." he started.

Hermione's stomach dropped and she knew where this was headed. "But I've been comforting Harry more than I've been comforting you."

Draco nodded slowly, looking away from her and Hermione felt shame flood her entire being.

"I know it's harder for you two than it is for me, but... it's still hard for me, Hermione and I think that you're forgetting that." he whispered.

Hermione's eyes flooded with tears and she nodded. This wasn't the first time she had done this, and every time she had realized she was in the past, she had hated herself for it.

"I get in this headspace when it involves, Ron. I get thrown back to being in Hogwarts when it was just the three of us." Hermione whispered. "Not that that's an excuse."

Draco sighed and turned to look back at her, touching her face gently.

"Love, I know. It makes sense." Draco sighed. "Just... don't forget I'm here, too, okay?"

"Draco, I could never forget that." she whispered. "You're my husband. You're the love of my life. You're the father of my children. You're my whole world."

And then Draco's lips were on hers, the need for one another becoming apparent all at once. He pushed her back on the couch and she wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight against her.

All of their children had gone to bed long ago, but Hermione knew that they needed to move to their bedroom, just in case. Draco's hands went under her shirt and she felt herself grin uncontrollably.

"Angel..." he whispered against her ear, his lips grazing her ever so slightly.

"I love you." she whispered. "I love you so much. Please don't ever think otherwise."

"Never." he whispered. "Never ever."

He looked deep into her eyes and Hermione felt the butterflies that she had been feeling ever since the first night in the Astronomy Tower.

Twenty three years later and Hermione knew that the butterflies would never go away.

**. . .**

"Come over."

James sighed, pulling his cell phone away from his ear for a moment to look at his phone.

2:31.

"I want to M&M, but I think my parents are still downstairs." James sighed.

He heard Marley sigh in the phone and he closed his eyes in frustration. They had both known that they had to at least make a show of sleeping in their own beds that night - for fear of Draco actually murdering him.

But now that they were actually apart, James wanted to be by her side more than anything. He wanted her to sleep with her head on his chest.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Pretty sure. Hang on." he said, hopping out of bed. "I'll check."

"Okay." she whispered.

James left the phone on his bed as he crept out of his room, going to the top of the stairs. He saw the light on in his living room and groaned inwardly.

What the hell were his parents still doing up?

"Harry, I just... I feel like I see it when you look at her." Ginny said, the tears evident in her voice.

James froze. He had been about to walk back to his room, but now he was insanely curious.

"Gin, I _promise_ there is nothing, okay? I promise you." Harry said. "You know I'm telling the truth. I know you know."

"But..." Ginny started.

"Ginny, that was twenty years ago, okay? _Twenty_."

"But that doesn't mean -"

"Do you really think I would do that again, Gin? That I'd risk our life together? Our beautiful life with our beautiful children?"

There was a silence and James felt his heart beating quickly. Who were they talking about?

"No. I know you wouldn't." Ginny whispered finally.

"Because I love you more than life itself, Ginny. I mean that with everything I have." Harry whispered.

James sat down on the top step, where he knew he would still be concealed in the darkness.

"Hermione... you know she's been in my life forever. She's honestly like my sister, Gin. I promise." Harry said.

Hermione? Marley's mother?

Of course. Marley had said that his father and her mother had been involved, but James hadn't thought that it would ever have been _while_ his parents were together. There was a sudden fury in James' heart at his father.

How could he have ever cheated on his mother?

Had Hermione been with Draco at the time?

It took all of James' strength not to stomp down the stairs and demand to know just what exactly had happened.

"Ha, sister." Ginny said bitterly.

"Ginny..." Harry sighed.

"No, I know. You're right. Twenty years ago."

"Hermione was broken and so was I. I was still recovering from the War. Me and you were in a horrible place and I will regret it all to the day I die."

"Harry, don't... I'm sorry. You shouldn't be beating yourself up over this. Not now. Not ever, really. I don't know what's going on with me."

James was shaking. His fists were clenched and he took a deep breath.

"You're under a lot of stress. We all are." Harry whispered. "I can't imagine how it felt to know about Meredith and Ava..."

"Harry, I wanted to tell you so badly. I wanted to help Meredith, but I had no idea how to. And I knew that you would want to be there for her, Harry. I know how you think of her." Ginny said.

James was confused. Just how did his father think of Meredith?

"Before Draco was around, Gin... I will never forget the heartbreak on Hermione's face when Meredith thought I was her dad."

There was another moment of silence as James just sat there, holding his breath.

"Are we okay?" Harry whispered.

"Of course we are, Harry." Ginny said. "Just... be there for me, too, okay? He's my brother. This is hard for me."

"I love you, Ginny. I love you." Harry said.

And then James heard a kissing sound and went back to his room as quickly as possible. He caught sight of his phone and cursed under his breath, having momentarily forgotten that Marley was on the line.

"You still there?" he whispered.

"Yeah. Thought you'd fallen asleep or something." she answered.

"I'm sorry. I was eavesdropping on my parents. They're still awake."

"What were you listening in on?"

Did James tell her?

Of course he did. He had to. She was Marley.

"I'll tell you in the morning, okay?" he said. "I really don't know when my parents will be going to bed, so I don't think I can use the Floo tonight, M&M."

"It's alright." she whispered.

"Stay on the phone until we fall asleep?" James asked.

"Yeah."

"Okay."

"Okay."

James closed his eyes, lying back on his bed as he listened to Marley's soft breathing on the end of the line. He thought over his parents' conversation, but decided to put it out of his mind for the time being, thinking of Marley instead.

**. . .**

Meredith sat up on her bed, biting her lip and drumming her fingers on her knee quickly. She was too wired to sleep. Her brain was too full.

After talking it out with Teddy, she had decided that she needed to meet Ron again. She needed to confront her demons if she ever wanted to move past any of them - and that included Ron.

And Leo.

Leo.

Meredith had no idea what to do about Leo. Was there anything she _could_ do? She knew in her heart that she was still deeply in love with him, but she also felt as though there was too much damage there for anything to be repaired.

And she was scared. She was scared to open up her heart again. She was scared of anymore hurt.

But she wasn't sure if she could take it anymore - being alone. Clearly, exiling herself from her friends and family was not helping her accept Ava's death anymore than breaking things off with Leo had done.

She missed him. She needed him. And she knew that he needed her as well.

She looked at her clock.

2:31.

"Fuck it." she whispered.

Meredith got off her bed and grabbed her wand from her bedside table, Disapparating before she could change her mind. She wasn't even sure if she could make it through the Wards, but when she felt herself do it with ease, she was pleasantly surprised.

She opened her eyes, finding herself in Leo's room at his Aunt and Uncle's house - the only true home she knew he had ever known. She had only been there once before, in the summer before Seventh Year. She looked at Leo's bed, finding him sitting up wide awake - just as she had been minutes ago.

"Hi." she said.

"Meredith, what are you doing here?" he sighed, picking up his wand and pointing it in the direction of the door. "_Muffliato_."

Meredith just shrugged her shoulders and sat down on the edge of his bed, looking at him tentatively.

"I... I couldn't sleep." she decided to say.

"Yeah, me neither." Leo sighed.

"I know you're mad at me, Leo. I'm mad at me, too." she sighed.

Leo wasn't looking at her, and it was driving her crazy. She plucked up her courage and slid an inch closer to him. He still didn't look at her.

"I'm sorry." she whispered. "I'm so sorry I ran away."

"It's a bit late for that, Mer." he said.

"You're the one who came to find me, Leo. You're the one who showed up in my kitchen without no notice." Meredith said.

Leo finally looked up, his eyes reddened at the rims and filled with tears.

"Well, that might have been a mistake." Leo said flatly.

Meredith's heart stung painfully. She regretted coming instantly at his tone. She stood up, crossing her arms over her chest. She didn't want to fall apart in front of Leo - not again.

"Mer..." he said.

She turned back to face him, finding him having stood up off the bed. He walked toward her and held something up in front of her face. As she took in the sight of it, she closed her eyes. She wasn't ready for that.

"Look, Meredith. Please." he whispered.

Meredith shook her head, keeping her eyes firmly shut. She felt Leo's soft touch on her arm and she opened her eyes slowly, taking in the sight.

It was a photograph of the three of them - Meredith, Leo and Ava.

It had been taken the day she was born. Their first official family photo. The first out of three.

They had only been able to take three photos together as a family.

Meredith grabbed the photo out of Leo's hand and peered in at it. In the photo, she was sitting in the Hogwarts Hospital Wing, holding Ava in her arms as Leo sat with his arm around her. Both of them were smiling, laughing and gazing down at Ava, their expressions full of love.

She hadn't looked at a photo of Ava since the day of her Hogwarts graduation. When she had left for Europe, she had promised to not look back.

Now she felt selfish. How had she thought that pretending to forget what had happened to her poor daughter would have made things any better for anyone?

Meredith began to cry for her daughter, for Leo, for her parents, for her whole family and for herself.

"S-she was so beautiful." Meredith squeaked out, tearing her eyes away to look at Leo.

"Yeah, she was."

This time, Meredith pulled Leo into her arms, letting him bury his face into her shoulder as she held her arms tight around him.

**. . .**

Draco kissed Hermione deeply, smoothing her hair back on her head and smiling at her. Her cheeks were flushed as she stared at him, her small sprinkling of freckles upon her nose and cheeks standing out.

"I love you, Draco." she whispered.

Draco kissed her again. "I love you, angel."

Hermione rolled over on her side and Draco wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her to him. He kissed the softness of her skin on her neck and shoulder and he felt her shiver slightly, causing him to smile.

It reminded him of the early days of their marriage - when they would stay up late into the night, having sex and talking.

Draco knew that they had needed night like that. He hadn't planned on bringing up his stupid jealousy over Harry's relationship with his wife, but Hermione had read him like a book and picked up that something else was wrong.

He hated whenever he got jealous.

Harry was his best friend - apart from Hermione. Draco could admit that now. It had taken a few years, but Harry truly had become one of the people Draco knew he could count on most - as bizarre as that was. He trusted Harry with his wife, but he was still occasionally jealous of their relationship.

Hermione knew exactly how to be around Harry. She knew how to calm him down. She knew everything about him. And while that was the same for Hermione with Draco, Draco sometimes wished that it was only like that with him.

He closed his eyes. He didn't want to obsess over it, not when he knew it was pointless. Hermione was in his arms. His whole life was in his arms.

And that was what mattered.

**Author's Note:** thank you to everyone who reviews and keeps reading! PLEASE KEEP IT UP LOVELIES! 3


End file.
